Unexpected Blessing
by writinggurl101
Summary: When the paths of Kelly Severide and 14 year old orphan Addison Hunter cross, both lives are altered forever. Kelly pulls Addison from the flames of a deadly house fire, but continues to find her in increasingly dangerous situations...Can Kelly find a way to help Addison before it's too late? A story of friendship, loss, love, and new beginnings involving everyone at firehouse 51.
1. Chapter 1: The Call

1: The Call

"Truck 51, Squad 3, Ambulance 61—apartment complex fire, 1772 Crystal View Drive."

The familiar blare of the intercom rung out above me, and my whole Squad dropped our cards—face down of course, we would finish this game—and headed to our truck. We did the familiar drill of getting into our boots and suits, and the weight that used to make me groan now got my heart racing. The rush of going out on a call was partly the reason I loved this job so much. You never knew what was going to happen, and that could either be the best or most crushing thing about your day.

We all piled into the truck, with Vasquez following Cruz out of the hall, and we raced down the streets of Chicago, parting the sea of traffic in front of us. Sure enough, billowing clouds of smoke could be spotted blocks before the blazing building.

"Severide, top floors, we'll take the bottom levels." Casey called out to me, and my team nodded in agreement before we all entered the building. The haze of smoke hung like a veil as we located the stairs, and began our ascent. Vasquez and James brought out two small children who were on the couch, curled up against each other.

Mills and I continued, and spotting a dog cowering in the corner, I pointed him out to Mills. "Get the dog and get out!" I called, knowing this fire was going to get bad soon.

A door sat closed at the end of the hall. I clutched the handle, and turned. But the door was locked. I tried again, and again. Finally I opted to kick it in. It flew open, and I went into the bedroom, which held three beds obviously meant for the kids. The ceiling was beginning to cave in, and the floor beneath me was becoming questionable. I could hear my team on the radios, reporting on who or what they found in the flames.

Hearing coughing from behind one of the beds, I turned to see an older teenaged girl holding a blanket to her face as her eyes searched madly for something—someone.

I finally realized who she was looking for. The small boy looked to be maybe two years old, with a rubber giraffe in his mouth with scared blue eyes. He was sitting across the room near the window, and I could see the floor starting to sink in.

I rushed to the girl, moving her hair away so I could see her distraught face and talk to her. "Look I'm here to help but you need to get down—"

She cut me off. "No! No, we need to get him! Henry! We have to get Henry!" he voice told me she was not going anywhere without the boy.

"We'll get him, okay, we will. But I need you to look after yourself and get out of here." I explained as calmly as possible, looking back to see Henry break into wails, the giraffe falling out of his grasp.

"Don't worry about me, we need to get him." She said, and I shook my head internally. God was this girl stubborn. Why was it so hard to understand she needed to leave and let me do my job?

Suddenly her eyes flashed behind me, and hearing the tell-tale sign that the floor was going to give, I turned and looked in horror at the simple wood panelling disintegrating in a ring, encasing the toddler inside it.

"Henry no!" she cried out, and pushed me aside, and leaped across the deathtrap, snatching up the child and jumping to safety against the window. The floor collapsed, and now a good six feet stood between me and them. Feeling complete anger welling up at the stupidity of what she just did, I also felt a ton of shock and admiration for her bravery.

"I need someone up here! Top floor! Now!" I almost scream into my radio, and Chief's voice came back in reply.

"Kelly whatever the hell you're doing, stop doing it and get out!" he ordered, and seeing the tearful faces of the two children before me, I shook my head.

"Sorry Chief but I'm not letting two kids die in front of me today." I said, hoping they'd all realize how dire this was and how I would not knowingly walk out on two victims.

I glanced back up to the kids, and I reach my arms across the hole which opened up into the living room below. "You need to give me Henry. Right now his lungs are having the hardest time, so you need to pass him to me." I instruct to the girl carefully but clearly.

She looks to the boy curled into her embrace, and nods, kissing his soot-covered blonde hair before stretching out her arms to meet mine. We both strain to reach one another. Her arms were long, but she was nervous and scared of going too far and falling in.

"Just a little further!" I encourage through a grimace, reaching out as far as possible. Finally the little boy was in my hold. I sighed in relief as I took him into my arms, and feeling the tap of someone behind me, I saw Casey with a grave face.

We exchanged a message wordlessly, and as he took Henry I looked back to the girl. "We're almost out—" I started but I stopped as I see her slip on the edge of the scorched edge of the hole. I instinctively reached out but realized that we might both fall in which would do nothing but make it worse.

She screamed, and spun around, clutching the window frame—the only thing left to hold onto. Her blue eyes were full of terror, and her light brown hair was in tangled curls around her face. As I looked down to the hole, then back to her, an idea popped into my mind.

"Wait here!" I exclaimed, turning back to the stairs and racing down to the living room, and I kicked the remains of the flooring from above away. I looked up through the hole to see her looking down at me. I held out my arms.

"You need to jump!" I yelled up to her and even more fear filled her face.

"I can't—" she began but I shook my head and cut her short.

"My job is to get you out of here. You need to trust me to do that. I know it's scary, but please jump because if you don't then we're out of options!" I pleaded to her, and she looked around her, realizing I was right. This was one of the only things we could do. "Trust me." I repeated again, hoping it would be enough to get her down.

Then with another scream, her feet left the ground and she came flying down towards me. She landed in my arms, and I bent my knees on the impact. She coughed more and more, her lungs clearly fading with all the smoke she'd inhaled.

"Hold on." I murmured quickly, running to the nearest set of stairs to the bottom floor. I heard the heat before I felt it. That gut-wrenching whoosh which told you the fire was going to explode out of the building. And you'd better run like hell if you didn't want to wind up charred and dead.

I felt the blast of heat behind me, chasing me, licking at my ankles and forearms. But I had to keep going; I had to get this girl out of her alive. She was stubborn and somewhat reckless, but she had a good heart. Anyone could see that.

I reached the door, and jumped for dear life onto the lawn. We fell hard onto the ground, and I quickly rolled off of her to let Shay and Dawson whisk her away to the ambo. I stood up myself, and saw my squad and the truck coming over to me.

Casey slapped me on the back, and we exchanged nods. "You good?" he asked, and I just nodded once more.

I looked to the rest of the guys and we all nodded, silently saying we were all fine and glad none of us got trapped in there. It was a traditional routine, letting the people you worked with know you were happy they got out alive. It's something you can't find in any other normal job. Police force maybe, but other than that, the bond you share with your colleagues is so much more than mediocre.

I took off my helmet, brushing my hair away and wiping my forehead of the sweat and ash gathered there. I took a few deep breaths of the clean air—the feeling of it never gets old. I can't explain how much we take clean air for granted. Spending your whole adult life in smoke filled, sometimes chemical filled houses and buildings…You appreciate the air that isn't polluted so much more.

I walked over to the ambulance where the girl was being treated. Shay met me half-way.

"Hey, she's fine…a bit roughed up here and there. She took in a ton of smoke, we're taking her into the hospital so they can give her the all-clear." She explained and I nodded.

"Yeah, that room was full of smoke." I agreed. "Where's the little guy? Henry…Three years old, blonde hair…" I started to describe and shay nodded.

"Right, yeah he's hanging out with Boden until the mom arrives." She smiled a little as she looked over to where their Chief now stood with the cheerful baby in his arms.

"She almost died to get to him…" I shook my head as I glanced back to the girl at the back of the ambulance, taking in deep breaths from the ventilator. "The floor was going to fall through right where he was…She grabbed him right before it gave way. They both could have gone down and easily gotten killed because of it." I feel the annoyance rising up in me again, but supress it. People do crazy things when they're scared—I've seen it enough to understand they don't think logically in panicked situations.

"Wow. Brave kid." Shay replied, and I chuckled.

"Yeah, and stubborn as hell. She wouldn't let me do anything until I had the baby first." I told her, and Shay smiled and shrugged.

"Well, it paid off didn't it?" she asked me, and I looked back to Borden and the smiling toddler and nodded in agreement.

"I guess so." I said before looking over to the ambulance again. It looked like Gabby was wrapping things up with her patient, so I decided to take the chance to go and check up on her. "I'll see ya." I said, patting Shay on the shoulder before continuing over to the girl.

Her blue eyes looked up to me, and for the first time I was able to get a good look at her. She had fair skin, not freakishly pale but definitely in that region. Her eyes were big and curious as they gazed over me with blue intensity. Her hair was long and curly, a dark blonde kind of colour. I was sure on any other day it would have looked much better than it did now.

"Hey," I said in greeting. She gave a weak smile in response.

"Hi," she said softly in reply.

"Just wanted to see how you were…You know what you did in there was probably the stupidest and bravest thing I've seen anyone do in a long time." I grinned slightly and she gave a laugh of her own.

"I had to." She said simply, as if it were obvious the only option was to risk her own life. "He might not be my son, or my brother…but he belongs to someone. That's what's important." Her eyes darted over to where I knew Borden was standing.

"So you're not his family?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"No, I was babysitting…Playing with Henry then the next thing I know there's smoke and fire everywhere." Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she recalled the moments.

"We'll figure out what caused it. Don't worry." I assured her. "I'm Kelly by the way. Kelly Severide." I introduce myself, sticking out my hand which I realize is still gloved.

She looked down to the grimy thing with slight disgust, and I laughed before slipping it off.

"I'm Addison Hunter." She said, and something about the name struck a chord with me somewhere in the recesses of my mind. I tried to think if I'd met her before, maybe through a school program, but nothing came to me. "And thank you, Kelly." She smiled at me, and it lit up her whole face. Addison was really pretty for her age, beautiful really…She was probably around seventeen or so.

"Hey, I was doing my job…Nothing else." I said simply. Gabby and Shay both hopped into the passenger and driver seats. I smiled and jumped into the back with Addison. "Come on, I'll ride with you to the hospital. And stop talking, or Shay's gonna have a fit." I smirked while slamming the doors shut, Addison smiling a little as she sat on the gurney.

"I can hear you Kelly!" Shay yelled from the front and Addison and I both laughed as Shay made more comical threats against me.

I turned back to Addison. "So who's the family?" I asked, referring to Henry and the other children.

"The Mitchell's. I know Ms. Mitchell because we met at a coffee shop…It's a long story. Anyway, she saw how I was with kids and needed a babysitter short notice…Been going there every Saturday since." Addison explained, running a hand through her hair and trying to correct the snarled pieces. Her eyes started to brim with tears, and she looked down in shame. "She's going to be so devastated at the house…She's a single mom she can't afford to have this happen to her. I should have…" Tears fell and I felt my heart ache at the sight of this.

So I reached out, putting my hands on her shoulders. "Addison this is not your fault okay? This was an accident, pure and simple. Hopefully she's got good enough insurance to cover the damages…She'll realize that you never intended for this to happen. It was a combination of so many things, but none of it had to do with you." I tried to get her to understand what I meant.

"But I was supposed to—" she started to deny me again but I cut her off. I realized we had been doing that to each other a lot, cutting in and correcting.

"You were supposed to take care of her kids. And you did. I mean look at what you did for Henry. The little guy could be dead if you hadn't done what you did. Now I'm not encouraging you to leap over holes that could lead to death," she laughed and I cracked a smile. "But Ms. Mitchell will be thanking you endlessly for saving her little boy's life. You can trust me on that." I assured her, releasing her shoulders.

She took a shaky breath, nodding a little. "I guess so." She mumbled, and although she was acting like my pep talk had helped, something nagged at me that said she didn't believe me the whole way.

"Hey, we're here." Shay called back to us, and I felt the ambulance easing to a stop.

By the time Addison and I both looked over, Gabby was already swinging the doors open. She helped Addison down, brushing some soot off her shoulder as she did so.

Together we all walked in, and Addison was whisked away by some nurses as Leslie and Gabby filled them in on her condition. I looked around, taking in the emergency room. There were far too many people here, and I frowned. It wasn't good seeing the emergency so flooded like this—it meant bad news. Not for everyone, but for someone there would be. There always was.

Leslie came back over from where she was filling in charts. Addison was being examined, currently doing some deep breaths for the nurse. She looked like she had bad news, and I wondered if there was something else wrong with Addison.

"So here's the thing…The number Addison gave me checks out: you know a real house and all that. But no one is picking up. I mean it's five thirty on a Saturday. Parents should be home from work, cooking dinner or something. I've tried three times, and all I get is a machine. I can't leave them a message because they could get it tomorrow thinking something is seriously wrong." She let out a long sigh.

I shook my head, frowning. "Are you sure they're not home?" I asked and Shay just shrugged.

"I mean I could try again but it's weird Kelly…She told me her name is Addison Hunter. The message machine said 'you've reached the Gregson's'." she told me, and I furrowed my brows. She saw my expression and nodded. "Yeah, exactly what I thought. I mean, is she adopted maybe? Foster care…? Could just be a name from a previous marriage…" Shay listed off the possibilities, and looking back to Addison, now laying down as nurses fussed over her, I decided.

"I'll just take her back to her house once she's out of here." I said easily. Shay looked to me. "What? I'm not doing anything later, I got time. Guy can't do anything nice?" I shrug her look off.

Shay sighed, shaking her head. "Just…don't get too attached Kelly." She warned me before taking off after Dawson to the ambo bay.

I turn back to see Addison with an oxygen mask over her face as one of her nurses tends to her slight scrapes and burns from the fire—superficial wounds. I've had them myself many times.

"Excuse me," I grabbed the nurse's attention as she turned to leave Addison's bed. "How long do you think she'll be here for? I was one of the guys who brought her in." I looked to Addison again before meeting the nurse's eyes.

"Well, she inhaled a lot of smoke. She'll need the oxygen line for another hour at least. Everything else is all surface—it won't be a long recovery for her afterwards." She informs me and I nod, grateful.

"Great, thanks." I say before taking off for our truck. I have enough time to get back to the station and drop the guys off, change, and get back to the hospital before she has to be discharged.


	2. Chapter 2: Suspicions

2: Suspicions

 **Kelly's P.O.V**

I make it back within the hour and see Addison sitting up in her bed, eyes more alert than before. Her hair is still wild and the exhaustion of today's events are visible on her face.

She sees me approaching and she smiles. "Hey, I remember you." She says with a light laugh,

"Hey kid." I greet her. "You're looking a lot better than when I left you here, how're you feeling?" I ask, pulling up a chair next to her bed.

Addison shrugs. "Mostly fine. Throat is a little sore and I feel sort of achy all over, but I'm good." She nods and I smile, relieved to hear it.

"Nice, I'm glad you're on the mend. The throat thing might stick around a little, it happens when you take in a lot of smoke. Same with the muscle aches. Just take it easy for a few days and you'll be good as new." I tell her and Addison grins.

"You sure you aren't a doctor? Sounds like you know your stuff." Addison says with a giggle and I can't help but chuckle.

"Ah, well…You run into a burning building enough times, you start figuring things out as you go." I say and she nods.

"Right, that makes sense." She says. "What are you doing back here though? Is everything okay? Nothing happened to Henry, right?" her eyes become full of worry, searching my face for answers.

"No, no," I assure her quickly, not wanting her to panic. "As far as I was told Henry made it back to his mom and is doing just fine… All thanks to you." I say and Addison looks down, sheepish.

"And you too." She says, meeting my gaze again. God her eyes are seriously blue.

"Yeah, well…It was my job. No one ever expected you to do what you did." I say and she just waves a hand.

"I had to…Henry is so sweet, I couldn't let him get hurt." She says sincerely. "But if you're not here about Henry, then how come you're back?" she asks me again.

I sigh. "Well, that's actually something I wanted to talk to you about. Earlier today we followed up on the info you gave us but we weren't able to contact anyone." I say and Addison looks away momentarily. "Also, the voicemail said it was the Gregson's, but your last name is Hunter." I press on. "Is there any reason why your family wouldn't be answering?"

Addison nodded. "Yeah, they have gone out of town, just for the weekend…Camping." She says, her fingers smoothing out the fabric of her bedding.

"Camping?" I ask with confusion. "It's mid-October." I say with a laugh and she just shrugs and keeps her hands busy.

"They really love it." She says and I tilt my head, crossing my arms. Something about this doesn't sit right with me.

"Why didn't they bring you then?" I ask her and this time her eyes flicker up to meet mine, and I see a trace of something in them before she looks away.

"I didn't want to go." She says simply and I shake my head, unsure how to continue.

She seems so unwilling to elaborate, and what she's telling me doesn't totally add up. But I can tell she's a decent kid, after what she did for that little boy today, I find it hard to believe that she goes around deceiving people. She's had a long day, anyone would be tired and ready to go home; I just need to let it go.

"Well, either way…I'm here to make sure you get home okay. So once you're discharged, which should be soon, I'll drive you back to your house." I explain and she looks up in surprise.

"What? You'd…You'd really do that?" she asks with genuine shock on her features.

I shrug and give an easy smile. "Sure, why not? Someone's gotta make sure you get there in one piece. If your folks are out of town like you said, it makes the most sense." I say, watching as she smiles to herself and looks back to her blankets.

"Wow, thank you. That's so nice of you." Addison looks up to meet my eyes and they're shinier than they had been moments ago. But she brushes some hair from her face and averts her gaze.

"I'll go check in with the nurses—see about getting you out of here." I say, patting her mattress before I stand up and find my way to the front desk.

An older blonde lady is behind the counter, wearing brightly coloured scrubs and cherry shaped earrings. Her nametag reads Molly.

"Hi there, what can I do for ya?" she asks with a smile while putting down the phone.

"Hi, I was actually hoping if you could tell me if one of your patients is okay to be discharged? Her name is Addison Hunter, she was brought in earlier today from an apartment fire." I explain, and within seconds Molly has snatched up a manila coloured file and flipped it open, shuffling through its contents.

"Hunter, Hunter…" she mumbles to herself before coming upon a sheet. "Ah, yes. Addison Marie Hunter. Fourteen-year-old with smoke inhalation and minor surface wounds." She scans over the paper, flipping it over onto the backside. "Looks like she got the formal sign-off from doctors about half an hour ago, so I'd say you're good to go—only they weren't able to contact guardians. Who are you to her?" she asks me, eyes flickering up to look at me.

"I'm one of the firefighter's who brought her in earlier today. She's told me her folks are out of town, I was going to drop her off at home, make sure she got there okay." I explain, smiling. "I know I'm not her formal guardian, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't care—can we look the other way just this once?" I ask her and Molly looks to me with a look of amusement.

"I suppose a firefighter is the second-best option to anyone else." She says with a small smile and I grin.

"Thank you Molly." I say as she slides the sheet of paper toward me with a pen.

I sign my name on the bottom of the paper before giving it back to Molly. She chuckles as I thank her once more before turning back to Addison's bed. I find her standing, nodding at the nurse who has clearly helped her out of the IV fluids and heart monitor cables.

"Ready?" I ask her as I approach.

Addison turns to look at me, nodding. "Definitely."

I turn to the sliding doors and she follows out behind me. When we get to my car I unlock the door and open it for her.

"Thanks." She says with a soft smile before clambering in.

I get in on the other side and bring the engine to life. "So where am I heading?" I ask her and Addison runs a hand through her hair. Man, she's got to be exhausted. And only fourteen—I thought she was seventeen, or sixteen at least, but looks can be deceiving.

"Just start driving to the East end, I can direct you from there." She says, her tone very passive.

"East end?" I ask, turning out of the parking lot. "That's not exactly on the nice side of the tracks." I say uneasily and she actually laughs.

"Tell me about it." She rolls her eyes. "But foster homes are foster homes." She shrugs and I frown, this new information only increasing the uneasy feeling I have.

"So you're only fourteen," I start but she quickly cuts in.

"Almost fifteen…I have a late birthday; right around Christmas on the twenty third." She says, wanting me to be clear on her age.

"Alright, but how long have you, you know, been in foster care?" I ask her, not sure how to phrase the question as gently as possible.

Addison sighs heavily. "My mom died when I was eight—brain tumor." She says and I feel my face fall.

"God, I…I'm sorry." I say, unsure of what else I can say to make her feel better.

"It was a long time ago." She shakes her head, as if shaking the thought from her mind. "But after that, with no siblings or living relatives, I became property of the state." She says, her tone sounding ever so slightly helpless. "I guess it'll be seven years in December then." The way she says it sounds like she's just as surprised as I am that it's been that long.

"Seven years." I repeat, baffled. "But…But no one ever wanted to adopt you?" I ask with surprise. "You seem like a half decent kid," that earns me a sideways glance and smile from her. "You're telling me no one ever thought to pick you?" I ask her and she just gives a shrug.

"I mean, if they did, they never followed through on it. But it's hard when you enter the system at an older age. Everyone wants the babies; a clean slate to start off with, a child they can actually make feel like their own." She says to me wistfully. "Not that I blame them…The older kids can be hard to deal with, depending on the lives they had prior. A lot of them are troubled emotionally, skip school, just all-around challenges to take on." She explains.

"Well, I can see that…But how is it fair that they get left behind?" I ask her and she smiles sadly.

"That's exactly it: it isn't. But it's the way things are. No one wants the fourteen-year-old who's spent half their life bouncing from one home to another. They don't want a kid that's halfway to being legal and able to leave." She shakes her head. "So they never get adopted and just grow out of the system at eighteen."

The way she says this with such fact behind it makes me…angry. How many kids are forgotten and left behind just because their lives weren't total tragedies right from the time they were born? Jesus Christ that's messed up.

"That's…Man that gets to me." I say with a shake of my head. Addison gives a laugh and I look over to see her looking straight ahead, expressionless.

"You and me both Kelly." She says with a long sigh. "Turn left up at the next intersection." She says to me.

I do as she says, following every turn. The large buildings of the inner-city area have all disappeared and have given way to smaller, more run down and abandoned buildings. There are barely any street lights out here, almost everything coated in darkness. It's too quiet; distant sirens are all I can hear and it makes me want to get the hell out of here.

"It's this one on the right." She tells me, glancing up at a tall apartment building. Some of the windows are lit, but most remain dark and ominous. "Thanks a lot for the ride, I really didn't expect it." She says with an honest smile as I park up against the curb.

I shrug, shaking my head. "Don't mention it, it wasn't a problem. Glad I could do it." I say truthfully. "You sure you're going to be okay getting out?" I ask, looking at the dark building again.

I didn't like this, not at all. The East side is known for its drive-by shootings and gang activity. The last thing I felt like doing was letting this barely teenaged girl out here on the sidewalk alone.

Addison nods. "Don't worry, it won't have been my first time here in the dark. Probably not my last either." She says with a scoff and roll of her eyes. "But what can you do, right?" she asks and I frown.

"Look, if you ever need anything," I reach into my back pocket for my wallet. I retrieve one of my cards. "don't hesitate to call me. Seriously, any time." I say, looking to her carefully, thinking back to her flaky story of her foster family 'camping' in mid-October.

Addison takes the card from me, looking down. She looks back up and gives me a half-hearted smile.

"I really appreciate it Kelly, thank you." She says, blue eyes looking shiny again. But once more, just like in the hospital, the look is gone in an instant as she opens the door of my car and steps onto the pavement.

"Take care Addison," I call after her as she closes the door. She gives me a wave from the front steps as she enters in a code on the front door's keypad to let herself in.

She steps inside the building and disappears around a corner, probably going up the stairs, but I don't move my car. I wait a few minutes, for what? I don't know. Everything in me wants to run in there and take her somewhere else—anywhere else—that would be better than here. But she said it herself: she has no living family members, and she faces slim chances of getting adopted at fourteen.

It's been almost twenty minutes of me having an internal struggle before I bring myself to leave. I have to trust that she'll be okay. Shay said it herself: no getting overly attached. Addison seemed to be getting on okay before she met me, so she'll get back to that again. It'll just be a matter of time.

When I get back to the apartment around eight, Shay is on the couch with a plate of food and watching The Bachelor.

"Hey," she says through her mouthful. "How was dropping the kid? Went okay?" she asks me, and I drop my keys on the counter and nod.

"Y-yeah, was fine." I say, not feeling like I can fully divulge how I'm feeling to Shay right now.

Saying it will only make it more real, and she'll only tell me what I already know: I can't get involved. If firefighters got personal with every person we saved, none of us would be able to do our jobs. It's simple fact that you're told from day one in the academy. We have boundaries, lines you don't cross when dealing with a fire victim. I know I'm not good at following those rules, given when I did when those punk gang bangers were setting fires on this poor old lady who called the police on them…But I need to keep my head on straight about this. I need to push Addison Hunter into the back of my mind.

"So who's going on the date this week?" I ask Shay, sitting down next to her.

"Danielle, that airhead from Florida." She says with distaste and I laugh, snagging a piece of chicken from her plate.

"Hey!" she smacks my hand and I laugh, settling in beside her.

 **Addison's P.O.V**

I found the apartment quiet after Kelly dropped me off. His card was in the back pocket of my jeans and felt like it weighed five pounds. Him offering his help to me was something so hard ignore or brush off…It was huge.

"Addie?" I hear a small voice call from down the hall as I kick off my shoes. I look to see the little figure of Grace standing in her pajamas. She's only four, stands a good chance of being adopted soon.

"Hey Gracie," I whisper in greeting, walking towards her and sweeping her up into my arms. "Let's go back to bed, huh?" I ask, pushing her bedroom door open to see the other bunk beds still occupied by the three other kids aside from us.

All are under the age of twelve: Mason who is eleven, Cole who is eight, Holly who is six, and Grace who's four. They're all so sweet and don't deserve to be in the home of the Gregson's. Tucker and Veronica are our legal guardians as of right now…But they're only in it for the government checks they get every month in the mail…Between the five of us they have to be making around seven or eight grand a month. We see none of that money though, we aren't allowed to go shopping or join any expensive teams. I'm on my high school volleyball team but it's free and volunteer run.

I lay Grace down on the mattress gently. I see her wrinkle her little nose at me.

"Addie you smell like a fire." She says with a giggle and I nod and pull the blanket up around her.

"I know, it's been a long day Gracie." I heave a sigh as I stroke her little head, thick black curls and all. "Time to go to sleep." I say, bending over to plant a kiss on her forehead.

"Night Addie," she says as I get up to leave.

"Goodnight sweetie." I reply before slipping back out the door.

I make my way to the bathroom, eager to peel off my soot smelling clothes and wash my hair. While I'm under the water, which switches constantly between hot and cold, I contemplate everything Kelly said to me on the drive home. He seemed so genuinely surprised that the older kids go so undesired in foster homes. I almost feel bad for telling him because of how much it seemed to bother him afterwards.

My thoughts drift to Veronica and Tucker and where the hell they could be right now. Both are heavy drinkers, and Tucker is involved in one of the local gangs. I only came to find this out recently…after…after what I saw.

It was just over a week ago. I was coming home after playing at one of the local coffee shop's. It's the only way I generate any of my own money, so I'll bring my guitar and sing a few songs. Other days I'll go to the park and set up there—usually I'll make more then.

As I was rounding the corner of our block, I heard a bunch of raised voices, one of which I recognized as Tucker's. He had come home enough times, drunk and angry and yelling at me or the other kids for me to be able to know it. I stopped in my tracks and edged closer to the alleyway, being careful to stay out of sight.

"I'm sorry Tuck I only need a little longer, I'll get you the money!" the voice of a young man, couldn't have been any older than twenty-two, spoke out pleadingly.

"What part of this makes you think this is a negotiation? I gave you time, it's your own damn fault you didn't come up with the money." Tucker sneered at him, and I saw the metallic shine of a gun in his hand as he levelled it at the man.

Two of Tucker's thugs had the young guy on his knees, and he looked like he'd already been roughed up by them.

"No, no, please! I have a daughter, Tucker I swear—" the man began pleading for his life before Tucker pulled the trigger.

 **Bang.**

I gasped in horror, but clapped my hands over my mouth, trying to quiet my breathing, but it was too late. One of Tucker's thugs heard me and his head snapped up before he nudged Tucker, who's cold dark eyes locked on me.

I didn't know why I didn't think to do something, anything. I was frozen in place as Tucker came striding up to me. He shoved me up against the wall of our apartment building.

"What the hell are you doing here, huh? Snooping around, putting your nose in business that ain't yours?" he asked me, coming in close so I could smell his stench of sweat and alcohol.

"I…It was an accident, I swear." I said to him, my blood feeling like ice in my veins.

"You've been trouble since the first day you came into me and V's lives…" he shook his head in disgust, backing away. I let out a breath of relief that he was backing off, before he recoiled and slapped me across the face.

Had I not been pushed up against the wall already, I probably would've fallen back from the force. I laid my hand against my throbbing cheek, tears stinging my eyes as I stole a look at him. He was looking at me like I was the single most disgusting thing he'd ever laid eyes on.

"It's no fucking wonder no one wants you." He spat at me. "Even your own mama left you." He chuckled darkly as I felt a hole of hurt punch its way into my chest. Then I felt the cool metal of his gun against my face, the metallic smell of gun powder fresh on the barrel. "If I find out you've even whispered any of what you just saw, you're gonna end up a lot like my friend over there." He grabbed my chin forcefully and yanked it in the direction of the dead man on the pavement. His eyes were still open and bored into mine, lifeless and empty. Blood was seeping out of his mouth and pooling on the ground.

I felt tears roll down my cheeks as Tucker released me, shoving me back towards the wall.

"Let's go." He said to his two conspirators. "Cops will be showing up. I suggest you get going too." His eyes fell to me before he turned and left.

I stayed there, hunched against the wall for a moment or two, collecting myself. My breathing was coming out in haggard breaths, catching in my throat as I fought the urge to cry.

I picked myself up and went into the house where Veronica bumped into me as I entered the door.

"Oh," she'd said, seeing my face. "What the hell happened to you?" she asked, her brown eyes taking in my dishevelled, half-crying appearance.

I shook my head, wiping my eyes. "N-nothing. I'm fine." I said with enough conviction that she just shrugged and continued on her way out.

"It's ladies night down at the clover, I'll see you…whenever I guess." She said carelessly before slamming the door closed behind her.

And that was it.

I turn off the shower and step out, wrapping myself securely in a towel, closing my eyes and soaking in the remnants of the warm water. I remember my mom doing this for me when I was little, and it was one of the few things that can make me feel completely safe and at ease for a fleeting moment. But then I open my eyes and reality sets in again: she's gone, not coming back, and I'm here, keeping a secret in order to stay alive, but that's eating me alive.


	3. Chapter 3: By Chance

3: By Chance

 **Kelly's P.O.V**

It's been almost a week since the apartment fire where I met Addison. I had managed to keep myself from going crazy worrying over her for the most part. There was one night where I was almost ready to drive back to her apartment building to get her. I had no idea what I was going to say, but I had this innate urge to just get her the hell away from that place. There was no way that anyone like her deserved to be in such a place.

Today is Saturday, my day off, the first true day off in a while. I'm using the opportunity to try and clear my head. I decided a good way to do that was by slipping on my running gear and getting out of the house. Running has always been a good way for me to block out the world and get some clarity—a break from everything else.

I leave around ten thirty, sleeping in a little longer than usual. I start off by going around my block, but find I need to go further. With that I just let go of any plan of a route and let myself run to wherever I wanted, not giving a second thought as I crossed streets and turned left and right.

Covered in sweat, I stop and sit down at one of the benches in this park I've found myself in. I think it's called High Park, but I can't be sure, I'm awful with names of places and streets.

I spot a water fountain across the park and immediately make a bee-line for it. I guzzle it down and splash some against my face and neck. My heart is slowly returning to its normal rate, coming down from my high pace. I wander over to another bench nearby and sink down onto it. I might have over-done it today. My legs feel like jell-o, and I begin to dread the trek back home.

I look up to watch all the park goers. It's busy, lots of people are out bike riding or running, taking advantage of the sunny fall day just like me. Families of kids are on the playground. Moms sit with their strollers and chat amongst themselves, occasionally calling out to their young ones to not throw dirt and to wait their turn for the swings. I chuckle when I watch one of the toddlers grab a fistful of dirt and sneak it into his mouth. His mom notices in seconds and snatches him up, wiping his tongue and face with a cloth.

My eyes continue across the playground, and I stop short when I see a familiar figure nearest to me, supervising some kids on the see-saw. Her hair is washed, now a light brown, and falls in waves and curls down her back, and her clothes are no longer scorched or charred, but it's her.

"Careful boys, not too fast, Holly and Gracie's legs aren't as long as yours." She scolds them gently, a smile playing at the edge of her mouth.

I shake my head and want to laugh out loud. Seriously, what are the chances?

I look down, running both my hands through my hair. I look at my shoes and wonder what to do. Do I leave before she notices? Shay would tell me to. She'd say it's not my place to follow up and check on her, to get any more involved than I have. But there's a huge instinct in me telling me I should just go and talk to her.

My decision is made for me when I hear her voice approaching me.

"Kelly?" she asks, coming closer. She wears dark jeans and a long sleeved white sweater. I immediately noticed the bruising along her cheek and my stomach sinks as I see it.

"Addison, hey." I greet her. "Weird running into you here." I say and she laughs, nodding.

"Yeah, I bring the kids here almost every Saturday. I've never seen you around before." She says, her eye thoughtful, probably wondering if she had seen me in passing without realizing it.

"Oh nice," my eyes travel to the four kids still on the see-saw behind her. "Another babysitting gig?" I ask her and Addison smile and shakes her head.

"No, I don't get paid for watching these ones. They're my foster siblings, we live together back at the Gregson's." she tells me. "I watch them whenever we're not at school." She tells me, and something in the way she says it makes me think that her services in watching the kids are more forced than volunteered.

"Wow, that sounds like a handful." I chuckle, watching the kids behind her as one of the girls manages to get herself off of the see-saw and comes bounding towards us.

"Addie, Addie!" she calls for Addison who turns to see the little African American girl making a bee-line for her.

Addison bends down and picks up the little one who was reaching for her with outstretched arms. "What's up Gracie?" Addison asks her, situating her on her hip easily.

"I'm tired of the playground. When are we going to go get ice cream?" she asks, her little brown eyes lighting up at the mentioning of the frozen dessert.

Addison giggles and shakes her head. "All you can think about is ice cream today." She smiles and looks behind her to the other children. "If you can convince the others it's time to leave then I'm ready when you are." She says and Gracie wriggles out of her hold.

"I'll be right back!" she promises as she races back towards the other children, calling their names the whole way.

Addison smiles, watching over the kids fondly. I can tell just in the way she behaves around them how much these kids mean to her. How many hours has she spent taking care of them in place of her so-called guardians? I feel that surge of anger again, the same feeling I got when hearing about her slim to none chances of getting adopted.

Addison looks to me, blue eyes scanning my sweaty clothing. "Needed to get out of the house?" she asks, amused with what she sees.

I chuckle, nodding. "Yeah, I've…" I trail off for a moment, eyes fixed on the children behind her before looking back to her inquisitive face. "Had a lot on my mind lately. You know, work and stuff." I say, trying to downplay the sleepless nights and long days.

Addison smirks, her eyes teasing. "Oh, well I would hope you spend so much time thinking about all those people you save from burning buildings. I think you'd be letting them all down in a way if you didn't." she giggles, and I roll my eyes; this girl's got wit, but I like it—it makes for good conversation.

"Yeah, yeah…" I mumble before seeing the kids all approaching us. "Looks like your band of ice cream lovers has assembled." I point out to her just as they get within earshot.

Addison turns to see them all behind her. "Oh hey guys," she greets. "Ready to go for some ice cream?" she asks, triggering simultaneous nods from each of them. The two boys look older than the two girls, but seem well behaved.

"Rocky road, rocky road!" the little one Grace begins chanting excitedly. Addison laughs and shakes her head in amusement.

"Kelly," she says, turning to me. "Do you…Do you want to come along?" she asks with a hopeful look on her face. "The place is just across the street from here, and I feel like it's got the best stuff in town." She shrugs. "As long as you don't have anywhere else to be, I won't want to keep you." Addison's tone is light, but that undertone of undeniable hope makes me feel like turning her down would be the worst thing I could do.

I follow her gaze to look across the intersection to see the sign for the 2 Scoops Ice Cream Parlor. Looking back to Addison and the four young kids all eager to get some ice cream, and I can't bring myself to say no.

"Yeah, I can go for some ice cream." I say and Addison breaks into a grin.

"Perfect, let's go." She smiles, taking the hands of the children on either side of her. Right as she does so, they all link hands together and begin the walk through the park. Clearly they've done this a few times, and Addison has the buddy system down pat.

"Which flavour are you going to get Addie?" one of the boys asks her. "I want the maple walnut if they have it."

"Hm," Addison thinks for a moment before answering. "I think I'll have to go with the chocolate mixed with vanilla with almonds: heavenly chocolate." She gives the name of the ice cream flavor.

"Awe, you get that every time though!" the older of the two girls points out with a look of disappointment.

Addison laughs and shrugs. "It's just so good! How can you turn down a good thing?" she asks them.

As we near the traffic intersection, the two girls and boys break off from her.

"Together!" she reminds them, and just like that, they've linked up again by their hands. The youngest one Gracie and the younger boy take turns frantically pressing the walk request button on the post, having a kind of competition with one another.

"You're really good with them." I tell her, and she crosses her arms over herself, smiling at the scene before us.

"You'd never guess the kinds of homes they came from when you see them like this." She says with a shake of her head, as if she herself can't believe it. "Mason, the oldest boy, lost both his parents in a car accident—hit and run. They still don't know who did it." Addison frowns. "Holly, the oldest girl, got taken from her mom who was diagnosed bi-polar when she was two. Lived with her grandmother until she passed away when she was four." The little blonde was in a heated debate about which flavor was best between bubble gum and rainbow burst with Mason, the oldest boy. "Cole was left at the front doors of a church—no name, no note…They still haven't tracked down his real parents." Her eyes fall on the curly haired boy who is still madly pressing the button. "And little Gracie there," Addison heaves a sigh. "Born in a women's prison. Mom was in there for being an accomplice to her boyfriend's armed robbery heist. Her parents are doing at least fifteen years. She hasn't known a life outside the system."

I look to the four kids, my heart breaking as I hear each of their stories. You'd think with a past like they have, they'd be incapable of feeling any kind of joy. But here they are, looking like a normal bunch of rascals prone to getting into trouble.

"That's…" I struggle to find the words as the signal changes and we cross the street. "I can't believe that—it's so sad." I frown deeply and Addison nods from the corner of my eye.

"It is, but kids are the most resilient people. They have such forgiving hearts, and can forget so quickly. It makes me wish we didn't lose that as we get older, maybe then life wouldn't feel so hard as adults." She chuckles and shakes her head, unsure. "I don't know, but they're the whole reason I do what I do. Even if there isn't a lot of hope for me, there is for them. They still have a chance." Addison says, eyes glazing over as she thinks of something.

I nod. "It's amazing you do things like this for them; taking them out to the park and for ice cream—I bet it's the most normal they get to feel." I say and Addison smiles wistfully, shrugging as she tucks back some of her hair blowing in the fall breeze.

"Well, I get to feel normal too for a little bit. It's for both of us in the end. A win-win situation." She tells me, blue eyes watching them as the oldest boy yanks open the door to the parlor.

We step in and I am met with two massive coolers of ice cream. An old man is behind the counter, wearing an apron and large glasses. He breaks into a grin as he catches sight of the kids and Addison.

"Well if it isn't my best customers!" he greets with a laugh while the kids press their hands up against the glass of the ice cream coolers, eyes full of excitement. "What is it gonna be today kids?" he asks them.

"Rocky road, rocky road!" Grace takes no time in deciding, repeating the same chant she had been on the way here.

"Hey Sal," Addison greets with a smile. "Where is that 'please' little miss?" she asks Gracie, who covers her mouth.

"Oops." She looks back to Sal. "Sorry, please and thank you." She corrects her behaviour right away and Addison nods in approval. I chuckle and wonder how it is Addison is able to get them all to listen so well.

"I'll have the maple walnut please." Mason says before Holly steps up behind him.

"The bubble gum for me please." Holly nods to herself, very sure of her decision.

"Mint chocolate chip please!" Cole declares happily.

"Heavenly chocolate for me please Sal." Addison says as the man nods. "Kelly?" she asks me, and I look to the flavors quickly; I hadn't even been thinking of which one to get.

"Uh…Sweet pecan for me please." I make up my mind quickly as Sal nods and gets to work fitting scoops of ice cream into each cone. I can't help but notice he makes the servings extra generous for them—by the sounds of it, he sees them here often enough to justify it.

Each child eagerly awaits the ice cream, Addison helping the younger ones by taking the cone from Sal before lowering it down to their level carefully.

I pull out my wallet, giving Sal a twenty and letting him know to keep the change. Addison looks up from handing the last of the ice creams off, and catches the last of mine and Sal's exchange.

Her expression softens into a look of true gratitude. "Kelly…Thank you, you really didn't have to."

I shrug. "Not a big deal, happy to." I say simply as she gives me another grateful smile.

Addison snatches up a handful of the napkins just as I'm handed my own cone. We leave the shop, cones in hand, and all the kids waving and yelling thanks to Sal.

We start off back towards the park, each child trying to walk and eat their cone at the same time.

"I still think ice cream in the fall is a little weird." I tell Addison, and she giggles and shrugs.

"It probably is, but they love it way too much to tell them no. I don't have the heart to do it. And oddly enough, it's grown on me." She admits to me, taking another bite of her ice cream. "So you live around here?" she asks me. "Within running distance at least."

I laugh half-heartedly, shaking my head. "Not quite…I live in Westbank." I say and her eyebrows shoot up. "I got a little…Carried away this morning with my run. Didn't really plan on winding up this far away." I admit, and she laughs.

"Wow, you have quite the walk back then." She says with an amused glimmer in her blue eyes and I nod, frowning slightly.

"More of a walk than I'd planned for, that's for sure." I say as we stop at the traffic signal again. Seeing her profile, I catch sight of the bruise along her cheekbone again. "What happened there?" I ask her, gesturing to my own face.

She looks down right away, touching the spot I mentioned. "Oh, right…It was stupid really. I hit my face into a shelf at home…I have really bad spatial awareness." She says before dropping her hand from her face and returning to her ice cream.

"Oh," is all that comes to mind for me to say, and I feel damn stupid for it too.

Again, something feels off about her story. It's this unsettling feeling I get in my gut, that instinct you have that tells you the difference between what was right and wrong…and this felt wrong. If she was being abused at home, maybe there was something we could do—something I could do.

There you go again getting overly involved Severide.

My thoughts scold me as we make our way across the street and back into the park.

"I've heard good things about Westbank. Do you like it?" she asks me as we near the playground. The kids are nearly done their ice creams and talking amongst themselves about whether to go to the swings or the slide first.

"Yeah," I answer, taking the last bite of my cone. "It's close to work, there's a good Italian place down the street…I live with one of my co-workers, so it makes it easy to carpool, and the rent isn't so bad." I explain as Addison also finishes her ice cream.

"Oh nice. Which co-worker? Did I meet them the day of the fire?" she asks me, and I think back, nodding slowly.

"Yeah you did. Her name is Shay, Leslie Shay. She was the one giving me a hard time in the ambo." I recall, and recognition lights up Addison's face as she smiles and gives a laugh.

"Right, right, I remember her…So you live together—Oh. Oh." Her tone changes as she looks to me, brows raised in question.

I laugh and shake my head. It's not the first time I've had this kind of reaction after people find out about us living together.

"No, it's not like that. Shay is much more interested in women than she ever would be with me. She's my best friend." I explain and Addison nods slowly, understanding better now.

"That makes sense now." She smiles before leaning down, pulling some napkins from her pocket to wipe the mouths of the children just finishing their ice cream treats. "I'll give you guys ten minutes to have one last run around, but after that we have to catch the bus to get back in time for lunch." She eyes them all carefully. "Go ahead," she says, and with that the kids take off running towards the slide.

"Somewhere to be huh?" I ask and Addison nods.

"Well, I don't have much money to spend on meals and whatnot. It's better to do it at home—I make just enough in tips each week to keep doing the ice cream with them on weekends." She explains and I knit my brows in confusion.

"Tips?" I ask and she nods.

"I play guitar and sing. Sometimes I'll set up here or at a coffee shop and hope that the generosity of Chicagoans comes through for me." She smiles, shoving her hands in her pockets as a cold breeze blows against us.

"Wow, good for you. Must be half decent at it if people are willing to give you some money for it." I say and she looks down, a blush rising to her cheeks.

She shrugs and avoids my gaze, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead. "I guess so…Music is just…Everyone gets it. Everyone likes it. It can bring so many people together and I love watching that, you know?" she asks, turning to look at me. Her cheeks have gone a soft pink colour from the cold air and her blue eyes look to me with curiosity.

"Well, maybe I'll stumble across this place again and see you play." I say, nudging my shoulder against hers. "Until then, I'll have no choice but to think you're a little less than mediocre."

She laughs and nods. "Well of course, it's only fair until you've had the chance to properly assess me." She rolls her eyes and giggles. "I hope I can meet the bar you've set for me."

"Hm," I say with a contemplative look. "I don't know, it's a thing very few people manage to achieve." I continue with the joke and she doesn't miss a beat.

"Those poor people, the rejection must have been heartbreaking for them." Addison smirks and I nod.

"It really was, devastating."

"I can only imagine."

"So sad."

"Very sad."

We look to each other and break into laughter. I shake my head. This kid is funny, really funny. Mature enough to keep a conversation going and keep up with my sense of humor. It's easy to forget she isn't even fifteen yet.

We fall quiet for a moment, both watching the kids sliding down to the ground and running back to the stairs to do it all over again. After a few minutes Addison calls them over and they reluctantly drag their feet to us.

"Oh guys, don't give me those looks. We'll be back next week." She tries cheering them up, but they all seem rather dejected.

"I don't want to go home." Holly frowns, looking to her worn shoes. "It's not as fun." She looks up to meet my gaze before looking to Addison.

"I know, I know, it never is." She takes Holly's hand in hers. "But hey, we can have cheesy noodles for lunch. How about that? We haven't had that in a while."

Immediately the kids perk up.

"Cheesy noodles are the best!" Cole says with a grin. "Let's go, let's go!" he urges, grabbing Addison's hand.

The others join the effort, pulling her in the opposite direction of the ice cream shop.

"Oh, you guys, wait!" Addison exclaims as she tries to turn back to me. "It was really nice to see you Kelly!" she calls, trying to resist the tugs of the children. "I hope your walk back is nice!" she giggles, and I shake my head in amusement.

I raise my hand and wave. "Good to see you too, don't let them get away with too much!" I call back and she sends me a look, grinning.

"Never!" she replies before succumbing to their insistence, turning away from me and back to them.

I watch them all go for a moment, the kids all skipping along happily as Addison holds their hands on either side of her. They eventually disappear around the corner of the street and I sigh heavily.

Even when I try not to think about her, and not interject myself into her life, the universe still mocks me—bringing us together by complete chance. Hearing more about her life, the life she shares with those kids, seeing that bruise along her cheek…It all fuels the raging fire inside of me that wants nothing more than to take her away from that place. She isn't even a kid herself anymore. Her maturity, her composure and perspective…It all came from the fact she hasn't been allowed to think about herself, be a little selfish.

All these thoughts create a storm in my mind as I jog back home. I reach my front steps, again, covered in a sweat and breathing heavily. I have no idea what to do about Addison…If I should even do anything. It isn't exactly my place…I didn't even know her up until a week ago.

I drag my feet up the stairs wondering what the hell I'm doing.

 **A/N: Thank you to all who are reading, please R &R! I love to hear the reader's take on the story! :) Also be sure to follow the story for future updates!**

 **All my love!**


	4. Chapter 4: A Pattern

4: A Pattern

 **Kelly's P.O.V**

The following week is quiet around the firehouse, all things considered. I spend most of my time taking money from Cap and the guys in our poker games. It's Thursday evening, about seven thirty, when the intercom blares above us.

"Truck 81, Truck 51, Ambulance 61, Squad 3, structure fire, 3452 Lincoln Avenue."

We all rush to our stations, pulling on our boots and gear before speeding off to the location.

As we pull up, I recognize the building. It's a small café I've stopped in at a few times. They open at 5am during the week so I remember to stop in on my early shifts and grab a coffee and scone. I've only come a handful of times, but everyone was always nice to me there.

We assemble on the sidewalk outside, grey smoke escaping the open windows.

"Otis, Cruz, get up and start venting that roof. Hermann and Mouch, get a line started. Mills with me." Casey calls out the orders as his men get to work.

"Cap and Barnes get around back, make sure this thing stays contained. Vargas—" I am cut short as my radio crackles.

"Severide, I've got an unconscious female trapped underneath a section of the ventilation system that fell through the ceiling. We need a rotary saw." Casey's voice reaches me, and I immediately take off for the truck.

"Vargas, with me!" I yell back to him as I haul the saw from its place in our storage unit.

We make our way into the building, smoke thickening as we pass by charred tables and counters, embers falling around us. I see the figures of Casey and Mills through the haze, and a set of legs buried beneath the aluminum vents.

I bring my goggles down over my eyes, as does Vargas. Mills throws his coat over the girl, shielding her, and both he and Casey take a step back as I bring the saw down over the metal. Sparks fly around us as the saw seamlessly eats its way through the metal. I'm careful to stop the saw as soon as it breaks through the last layer of metal resting on the girl.

Right away, Mills and Casey break the section apart and throw it off the girl at the same moment I hand the saw off to Vargas. As I catch sight of the unconscious victim I feel the air get sucked from my lungs—only it's not from the smoke.

"Addison!" I exclaim, reaching down to pull her into my arms. Ash is on her face and exposed forearms, there's a laceration on her left leg bleeding pretty good, soaking through her jeans. She's unresponsive, her head rolling off my forearm as I lift her up. I don't hear whatever Casey calls out to me, I only can focus on getting her the hell out of here.

Dawson meets me outside, stretcher in tow. Her face falls as she catches sight of Addison's face.

"Oh no." she says as I place Addison down gently on the gurney, clearly recognizing her. She places her fingers on Addison's neck. "I got a pulse, but it's weak. We need to get her to the ER now." She turns and begins jogging back to the ambo.

"I'm coming with you!" I call, following along behind her.

Dawson looks to me as we meet Shay at the ambo. "Kelly." She says, and I shake my head, unable to think of anything except Addison's life hanging in the balance.

"Dawson, I'm coming." I don't give her an opportunity to argue as I hop into the ambo alongside Addison's gurney.

Dawson slams the doors shut behind Shay and I, and we speed away moments later. Shay begins tending to Addison, starting an IV line and placing the oxygen bag over her mouth and nose, squeezing rhythmically.

My eyes never leave Addison's face. With her eyes closed and face adorned with ash, my stomach is twisting itself into knots. I only saw her last week, smiling and joking with the kids and getting ice cream. She was good, she was healthy.

What the hell was she doing here in a second fire in as many weeks?

"You got attached, didn't you?" Shay's voice breaks my thoughts and I look up to see her looking at me disapprovingly. "Kelly…" she sighs when I don't say anything in response.

"Shay you don't understand." I say quickly. "She…She's a good kid. Like a really good kid." I shake my head, my eyes going back to her face, Shay's rhythm never failing. "I didn't even mean to…I didn't mean to get to know her they way I did. We ran into each other by accident and the next thing I know…" I sigh and run my hands through my hair.

"You can't get attached to victims Kelly. It only makes our jobs harder." Shay shakes her head.

"You think I don't know that?" I snap, my anger flaring up at her inability to see things from my perspective. "Shay, I know how bad it is to get wrapped up with a vic. But Addison…I'm worried about her." I admit. "She's a foster kid…Mom died when she was young and has spent every day since in the care of strangers and worse." I feel disgust slip into my voice. "First the fire at the house, then I see her bruised up at the park we met at, and now this?" I ask, looking to see Shay's face creased with confusion and dare I say it: worry.

"I heard Antonio and Dawson talking about the whole Voight thing a while back…Antonio said one is an accident, two is a coincidence, but three is a pattern." Shay sighs and looks to Addison. She reaches out and strokes her hair. "Why were you in that fire?"

 **Addison's P.O.V**

I lift my eyelids to blink against a harsh fluorescent light above me. The effort of doing so makes me want to close them again right away; I'm exhausted from it.

"Hey there honey," a sweet voice comes from my left and I turn my head to see a woman in pink scrubs smiling. She adjusts the IV's hanging above me. "Sleeping beauty awakes." She laughs good naturedly and I go to speak but my throat feels like sandpaper. Her nametag reads Claire. "Oh no, don't talk. You took in a lot of smoke, I'll go get you some water."

Just as quickly as she's there she's gone. I wait patiently, the heart monitor beeping predictably. Claire comes back with a large glass of water and a bowl of ice chips, setting them both down carefully on the tray next to my bed. I take the water and down it quickly, needing relief.

She watches me, brown eyes caring and cautious. I set down the glass and feel much better.

"Thank you." I manage a croaky kind of whisper.

She smiles and nods. "Happy to help. How do you feel? You sustained mostly minor injuries, aside from the inhalation and laceration to your leg. Those will take a bit more time and care to heal, but you'll make a full recovery."

"I feel…" I am at a loss for words. How do I feel? Scared? Guilty? Both. "Okay." I decide to say.

"If you're feeling up for it, you have a visitor." She tells me, picking up my chart from the pocket at the end of my bed, clicking her pen to a point.

I feel my brows knit together. "A visitor?" I repeat. "Who?" the word slips off my tongue before I can stop myself. I really don't see Veronica or Tucker caring enough to make a trip across town to Chicago Medical just for me.

A smile graces Claire's lips. "I'm surprised you don't know who it could be. He's been here since you were admitted yesterday." She scribbles something in on my chart before returning it to the holster.

"Yesterday?" I ask, and she nods.

"Yeah, you've been out for almost thirty hours. Body went into shock…needed some time to rest." She says with a simple shrug. "Should I let him know you'd like to see him?"

I shrug and nod. "Sure…I guess, yeah." I reply, still confused as to who would wait more than a day to see me.

Claire nods and leaves through the door. I hear distant voices and approaching footsteps. A large hand pushes the door open a little wider, and out steps Kelly Severide.

He's not in his uniform anymore—he only wears a CFD Squad 3 jacket and a pair of jeans. His eyes look tired and I wonder if he's slept at all in the last little while. I certainly hope he wasn't keeping himself awake on my behalf; that wouldn't be okay.

"Hey kid," he greets me with a timid smile while coming towards my bed.

"Kelly." I feel a smile spread across my face and my stomach unravels from the knots that were forming with not knowing this mysterious visitor.

"I gotta be honest with you; I'd really prefer if we stopped meeting like this." He jokes, pulling the chair closer to the bed and taking a seat next to me.

I give a light laugh but wince as my lungs burn at the sensation. Kelly's expression falters when he sees this. I give a half-hearted smile. "Yeah, you're telling me." I say, but the concern doesn't leave his face.

"How are you feeling?" he asks me, and I sigh, lungs again burning slightly at the feeling.

"I've been better, but I've also been worse." I give him a shrug, trying to keep my tone light. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but what are you doing here? How did you know I was here?"

Kelly frowns and rubs his hands on his jeans. "I was there, at the fire. My firehouse responded. I carried you out of there." He explains shortly, and now that I understand I give a solemn nod. "Addison," he begins, his tone now different—I can tell he's leading up to asking me something. "What were you doing at that café?" he asks me and I look to my hands, busying myself with the little device clipped onto my finger, the one measuring my heart rate.

"I play there pretty regularly. I asked the owners a couple months ago if I could come in and play ever now and again. They were really nice, they told me I could come anytime." I explain before I feel my stomach drop to the floor. "Oh God, are they okay? Lilly was there at the café, please tell me she's okay." I look to him, feeling tears trying to sting my eyes at the thought of her not having made it out.

Kelly nods to my immense relief. "Everyone made it out relatively unharmed. You were the worst injury we had to deal with." He looks to the IV bags hanging around me "Do you remember much about what happened?" he asks me, grey eyes meeting my own.

I think back, memory feeling clouded and hazy. "I had just finished my set. Lilly offered to give me a drink and sandwich on the house. I went to the washroom and by the time I made it back out there was smoke everywhere." I recall, the memories beginning to fit back together like a puzzle. "I was trying to help get people out—everyone was panicking." I remember the yelling and the mad shuffling of feet against the floor. "I was in there for maybe six or seven minutes, looking for everyone…" I trail off, not sure what happened after. Suddenly it comes rushing back like a flood. "Wait, I know: I went back for Lilly. I couldn't find her anywhere and I found her in the back. She's on the older side and doesn't have the best vision, so the smoke made it almost impossible for her. I helped her get to the front, but we heard this creaking sound from above us…Then it all just happened so fast." I shake my head, pressing a hand to my forehead as a dull ache jabs at me. "I think as soon as I realized something was coming down on us, I pushed Lilly away from me. I remember getting crushed underneath something…But I must have hit my head or something because after that it all goes blank."

I look up to see Kelly, hands folded tightly around one another as he listens intently. I can't tell what he's thinking, and it immediately makes me nervous. I hate when I can't read people or get an idea as to what's on their mind.

"Yeah, that uh…Sounds about right." He nods. "It was the ventilation system that came down on you after the ceiling gave way." He tells me and I nod in understanding.

I look him over. "The nurse told me you've been here since I was admitted yesterday." I say, and he looks to me and shrugs, nodding.

"Yeah, I couldn't leave until I knew you were out of the woods—awake." He says before looking to me pointedly. "Your foster parents…They're not going to show up, are they?" he asks with a flare of something in his gaze, and I look down, feeling embarrassed he even has to ask such a thing.

"If I had to hazard a guess, they probably haven't even noticed I'm not there." I admit with a sad laugh. "But it's fine, I can take care of myself." I assure him, looking up to see his mouth pressed into a thin line, as if he's holding himself back from saying something.

"Addison," he starts heavily. "It's not okay; any of this." His tone is full of a subtle anger, I can tell this truly bothers him.

Before I can even stop myself, the words have left my mouth. "It hasn't been okay for a long time Kelly."

He looks taken aback by my blunt response but recovers and carries on. "Exactly, so there must be something we can do to change that." His eyes are now lit up with some kind of hope or optimism, and it makes my heart ache in my chest just how much he doesn't understand. "I mean, I could testify to a court or something. Tell them I saw the bad neighborhood you're in and the bruise on your face—" I cut him off right then.

"And then what Kelly?" My tone is harsher than I intend but I don't stop. "I'll get taken away, moved to some other broken, piece of crap home in another piece of crap neighborhood." I shake my head. "I'll get taken away and then who's going to be there to protect the others? Holly, Cole, Mason, Gracie…They need me. I can't leave them." I look down, tears pricking my eyes.

Kelly is quiet for a moment, clearly taking all of this in. "Maybe we can get all of you moved, make sure that they aren't left to fend for themselves." He suggests, and I look up to see him looking to his hands, at a loss.

"Do you know how hard it is to prove that one child is enough danger to be transferred, let alone four others?" I ask him, and he looks up to meet my helpless gaze. "I appreciate you coming here Kelly, honestly I do." I bite my lip, tears threatening to spill over. "But there's so little either one of us can do. And it sucks, it really does." I blink, and the tears roll down onto my cheeks. I wipe them quickly as Kelly's expression softens.

He shakes his head, looking away. "There has to be something." He murmurs softly, and I wonder if he's saying this to himself or to me.

"Can you just tell me if you found my guitar?" I ask him. "It's the one thing I've managed to keep from home—my real home." I explain, and his eyes shoot back to meet mine, and I can tell by the look of sadness what his answer is going to be.

I feel my heart shrivel up a little bit more in my chest, hurting so much.

"My mom gave that to me before she died for my birthday; it was one of the last things I had." More tears fall down my cheeks.

"I'm so sorry." Kelly says, voice thick with sympathy. "The fire got the whole place and everything in it. It was started in the dumpster out back and then spread." He explains to me and I nod, feeling numb.

"It's okay." The automatic response slips out of me.

We're both quiet for a moment, I think because Kelly and I both know that none of this is okay, by any definition. But we also have no idea what else to talk about. Seeing how much Kelly wants to help change my situation is probably one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me since I got into the system. But it also hurts me, how much he wants to help, because the sad reality is that our hands are tied.

"When do you go back to work?" I ask him as he busies himself with the wrist strap of his watch.

"Soon. I'm on the night shift, I'm supposed to be there in half an hour." He glances to his watch briefly and I nod.

"Make sure you tell everyone at the firehouse thank you for me." I say, gratitude washing over me. "I seriously can't thank all of you enough for saving me not just once, but twice now." I say with a roll of my eyes and a laugh.

Kelly nods. "You got it." He says with a strained, half-hearted grin. "I'll come see you once I'm off shift—the nurse said you're gonna be kept overnight for observation." He rises from his seat.

I nod and feel another surge of gratefulness that he's even bothering to come back; it at least gives me something to look forward to pass the time.

"Get your rest kid." He says, eyes now less sad and more teasing. I crack a smile as he turns to go.

"Wait, Kelly." I say hurriedly, using what strength I've got in me to lean forward as he turns back to me. I grab his hand, holding it tightly.

"Thank you." I say, holding his gaze firmly. "You have no idea how nice it is to not have to wake up alone after all of this." I say, my throat tightening with emotion.

Kelly gives me a shrug and an easy half-smile. "Just doing what anyone else would." He brushes it off, downplaying it as he normally does.

"Get some sleep." I say to him and he rolls his eyes.

"Maybe."

"Kelly…" I look to him with a disappointed look.

"I will if you will." He wagers, and I can't help but give a laugh.

"Deal."

He squeezes my hand once more before letting go and disappearing out the door, glancing over his shoulder as I give a wave.

 **Kelly's P.O.V**

I return to 51 just in time to start my shift and walking into the common area I'm met by Shay and Dawson.

"How is she?" Dawson asks, not missing a beat.

"Good, mostly. She's awake, alert…Had some memory troubles at first but she got through it. They're keeping her overnight for observation. Her lungs have taken a beating with the last two fires. Leg is healing though." I update them and watch as they both seem to relax a little.

"Did she know anything about how the fire started?" Shay questions me next as I round the countertop and lean against it.

"No, missed it. Was in the washroom when it all happened—she stayed in there to help get people out, said everyone was panicking." I relay what she told me, and Shay shakes her head.

"Jesus…Kid risked herself to help everyone else, even after having already been in one fire to begin with." The disbelief is clear in her voice.

Casey overhears us and wanders over.

"This about the girl we pulled out from the coffee shop fire?" he asks and I nod.

"Her name's Addison Hunter. Same girl we got out of the fire two weeks ago with the little boy she saved…Henry was his name I think." I strain to remember and Casey nods with recognition on his face.

"Right, yeah I remember. The mother was thanking me up and down once she got there, was a real mess." He tells us. "You're saying this Addison girl stayed in the coffee shop to help get the others out?"

I nod. "She went back for the owner. Older, doesn't have good vision, especially with smoke. Addison found her and brought her out, managed to push her out of the way before that ventilation tube fell down on her." I look down to the counter, envisioning the scene in my mind.

Dawson scoffs. "Does this girl have any sense of selfishness in her?" Shay and Casey all mumble in agreement.

"She doesn't." I say quickly. "You should see the place she's living at." I tell them, and I look up to see Mouch and Hermann also listening in from their usual spots on the couch.

"You went to her—" Casey cuts himself off as Shay nods. "Severide." His tone is stern, and I look to him with narrowed eyes, feeling pissed off he's trying to get all authoritative on me.

"Save it Casey." Acid slips into my tone. "If you want to lecture me about how I shouldn't have done it, don't worry, Shay beat you to it about four times over by now." I look to her and she shrugs, nodding again when Casey looks to her for confirmation.

"Where's she living?" Dawson doesn't let the little sideshow distract from the focus of the conversation.

"East side of the city, this building right in the middle of gang territory. Somehow the people there have been approved to look after Addison and four others." I explain. "You should see what she does for these kids; they're all so much younger and she shields them from everything, actually goes out of her way to make them feel like kids." I sigh and rub the back of my neck.

"Sounds like a special kid." Casey muses and I laugh.

"I have no clue how she does it. I would be falling apart if I was her." I admit to them, shaking my head in dismay. "I'm almost one hundred percent sure she's being abused by her foster parents. Ran into her by accident in the park and she had this nasty bruise up the side of her face. Told me it was from walking into a shelf." I motion to my own face, the same area I had seen it on Addison.

Hermann makes a sound of disgust while Dawson just sighs.

"I can try to talk to Antonio, see if there's anything we could get on the parents legally to get Addison taken out of there." She offers the suggestion and I just shake my head.

"I thought the same thing, but all it's going to do is move her from one bad place to another, except she's going to leave those kids behind unprotected." I say and the frowns circulating around me mirror the same way I felt when Addison told me the same.

"How is there nothing we can do?" Shay voices her thoughts aloud. "Seriously, this is so messed up. No kid deserves that." She walks away, clearly absorbed in her thoughts.

Dawson and Casey are both quiet as they take this all in.

"I know it was wrong to get involved with her—she's been a victim to two fires now and we're supposed to leave them alone…But I couldn't do it this time." I say to them, feeling my chest tighten. "Not with her."

Casey's blue eyes meet mine and he nods solemnly in understanding. "No, Severide, this sounds like the kind of thing someone needs to be aware of. Sometimes crossing the lines is necessary."

"Actually doing something to change it is a whole other story." Dawson chips in before she walks away, following in the direction of Shay.

I push off of the counter and start making myself some coffee. Eventually Casey wanders off, and Mouch and Hermann turn back to their TV show. I sit alone for the next few hours, coffee in hand but having it go cold several times because I keep forgetting to drink it.

 **A/N: There it is, another chapter, another incident...More questions surrounding Addison! Also seems as if all of 51 is developing a sense of concern for her- will this aid Kelly in finally finding out how to keep her safe? Keep checking back for more! And don't forget to R &R! :)**


	5. Chapter 5: A Vicious Cycle

Chapter 5: A Vicious Cycle

 **Addison's P.O.V**

I spend most of the night scanning through TV channels and eating ice chips and jello. I don't mind though, there have been much worse nights for me than having a warm bed and someone checking on me every hour.

I drift off to sleep around eleven thirty. I was trying to stay awake to see if maybe Kelly would get off shift early and come to see me. But my body is so tired and fighting it became too hard.

I wake the next morning to the sound of my door opening, and footsteps. Lifting my eyes open is still hard, but not nearly as bad as before. I blink, adjusting to the light.

"Hey, sorry for waking you." Kelly apologizes as he sinks back down into the chair which hasn't been moved since he was here last.

I shake my head. "It's okay." I say, throat still dry but not like the sandpaper it was before. "How was your shift?" I ask and he chuckles.

"Very boring." He says and I crack a smile. "But that's not always a bad thing; not being needed means no one was in major trouble." He points out and I nod.

"Well, then I'm glad." I say and he nods. "You don't look like you've gotten any more sleep." I say with a slight twinge of disapproval in my voice. I really had hoped he would rest.

"I did, briefly." He says. "So I didn't totally fail on holding up my end of the bargain."

I roll my eyes, a smile tugging at my lips. "Doesn't count if I got more sleep than you."

He looks to me. "I'm not the one who got pinned under a massive ventilation system"

"But you're the one who got me out of it. How is that any less exhausting?" I counteract and Kelly chuckles.

"It just is." He says and I shake my head, not liking his answer. "How are you feeling though? Any better?"

I nod. "Yeah, throat isn't so bad, lungs seem better." I take a deep breath, and while there is some discomfort, it's milder than before. "Nurse told me my leg is healing nicely—might still leave a scar though, it was pretty deep." I frown slightly, but shrug. "Overall, could be worse."

Kelly chuckles and shakes his head. "There you go again; you know that silver lining thing is only going to work for you so many times." He tells me, and I shrug.

"Well then I better keep using it until it runs out." I reply and we both give a light laugh.

Just then my nurse Claire comes walking in, she's in green scrubs today. She picks up my chart and glances over it.

"You're both up early. How are you feeling Addison?" she asks, coming over to take a look at my blood pressure and heart rate like she normally does. She records it into my chart while doing so.

"I feel good, a lot better than yesterday." I assure her. "Can I go home today?" I ask and Claire looks down at her chart again before answering me.

"You have been improving consistently since you woke up, everything is looking good at the moment. I'll double check with the doctors, but I'd say you're on your way out of here." She smiles warmly as I nod.

"Thank you Claire." I say as she places my chart back.

"No problem honey." She says with a glance back to me before leaving.

"That's all good news," Kelly points out and I nod. "I'll drop you off again, you shouldn't be getting on a bus with the way your lungs and leg are right now." He stands from his chair. "I'll be back in a bit." He tells me before disappearing through the doorway.

He's gone about twenty minutes before he comes back with a wheelchair in hand, rolling across the floor. Claire follows behind him, coming over to my bedside and starting to unhook me from the machines.

I feel my body slump at the sight of the wheelchair, and look to him. "Really?" I ask and he just smiles broadly while bringing it to the edge of my bed.

"Doc's given the green light, but the policy is from the bed to the doors, at the very least." He says and I sigh heavily, nodding.

"Fine. But only to the doors. After that I'm going on my own." I say firmly and Kelly chuckles before nodding.

"Yeah, yeah I got it. Now get your stubborn ass in this chair." He says as Claire removes the finger device from me.

I roll my eyes as I sit up and gently push myself off the bed, Claire's hands on my back and forearm helping me lower myself down into the chair. My muscles are sore, but everything feels like it's working properly.

"Good?" Kelly asks from above me.

"Let's roll." I say, not being able to help myself from the pun.

Kelly laughs as he starts pushing me through the doorway. I call back a word of thanks to Claire before we get too far.

"You know this is actually kind of nice." I muse, sitting back and watching the hustle and bustle of those around me.

"Well don't get too comfortable, the doors are right around the corner." Kelly sounds amused as we make a left turn, and there in fact are the large sliding glass doors.

He wheels me a little further before stopping a few feet from the exit. I stand up slowly, testing again how my body feels.

"Whoa there, speed racer." He says, coming around quickly to put an arm around my waist, taking on some of my weight. I put my own arm around his shoulders, gripping his jacket to help myself up.

"Okay, I'm good. Thank you." I say, giving him a reassuring smile as he eyes me carefully, as if I'm about to fall back into the chair. I must look a lot worse than I feel.

Slowly, he releases his arm from around me and backs away to roll the chair toward others stationed near the doors. I have yet to take a step forward on my own, mostly because I'm kind of scared to see how bad I might actually be.

Kelly offers me his arm, and I take it without a word.

"Come on, let's get you home." He says, and my stomach sinks at the thought of returning there in this condition. I won't be able to look after the kids as much, and Veronica and Tucker will be less than happy about that.

On the drive back, I find a zippered CD case in the pocket of the passenger door. I turn it over in my hands before unzipping it, looking to see what's inside.

Kelly chuckles. "Found my music." He states, and I nod, seeing different CD's of Led Zeppelin, Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard...

"You like rock." I say with a laugh and he nods.

"Yeah, grew up on the stuff. It's all my dad listened to, so I eventually picked up the same taste." He explains, and something in the way he sounds while mentioning his dad doesn't sit right with me.

"Were you close with him?" I ask, not missing an opportunity to find out more and satisfy my curiosity.

Kelly shifts in his seat, looking a little reluctant. "Uh, actually…No." he starts off, sounding stiff. "He left when I was still a kid in elementary school. My mom raised me alone after that. I've gotten in touch with him since…It's a bit of a love-hate relationship right now."

I feel my heart sink a little, imagining a six-year-old Kelly growing up without a dad. "Oh, I'm sorry." I say, watching as he shrugs and shakes his head.

"Ah, don't be. It was a long time ago, and you know…We're trying to bury the hatchet." He tries to roll it off easily, as he does with most things I've noticed.

"My dad left too." I say almost involuntarily. I can't help myself from trying to find some common ground with him. "My mom didn't like to talk about it because it hurt too much for her. He left before she even knew she was pregnant with me. She was nineteen, got kicked out for getting pregnant—I guess my grandparents were the devout religious types." I roll my eyes and scoff. "But she always told me we were better off without him. I guess right before he left he started getting into drugs, the heavy stuff." I look down to the CD case. "She heard from a friend that he OD'ed on a bad batch of something. She had me two weeks later."

Kelly sighs. "That couldn't have been easy for her—or you." He says with a sideways glance, and I nod slightly.

"Harder for her than me I think." I admit. "She loved him a lot, never really dated too much after him. Occasionally she'd go to dinner with a work friend or the good-looking dad from PTA meetings." I laugh a little and Kelly cracks a smile. "But I don't think she could let herself love someone as much as she loved him again. I think it was too much." I picture my mom and the way she used to always stroke my hair and tell me that she didn't need any man to love with how much love she had for me.

Kelly nods. "That makes sense, some wounds don't totally heal even though you want them to." He makes a left turn and I can tell we aren't far from my house.

"I just...I can empathize with you and not really growing up with a dad. I know what it's like to always ask yourself why, wondering if it was you that made him leave…All those questions can drive someone crazy if they're not careful." I frown and zip up the CD case before placing it back in the pocket of the door.

"Yeah, something like that." Kelly nods, his eyes focused on the road, seemingly lost in thought.

We're quiet for the remaining minutes spent driving to my house, but it isn't uncomfortable or awkward. I think we feel as if there's not a whole lot else to be said on the subject, and I'm happy to sit here and think it all through. I wouldn't have guessed Kelly and I would have something in common in terms of our upbringing, but I've learned you can never assume anything. The fact he knows what it's like to be raised by a single mom is something I take comfort in—I've never met an adult who can say they truly understand the feeling in every capacity.

Kelly pulls up to the curb outside my building and within seconds is out of the car and on the other side, opening the door for me.

I glower up at him. "Is this really necessary?" I ask him and Kelly chuckles.

"Did you really expect me to let you get up and walk inside on your own?" he replies, and I sigh and say nothing; he takes my silence as an answer in itself. "Exactly. Up you get." Kelly says and with that his hands grip my forearms as I use his sturdiness as leverage to stand up.

He closes the door for me and turns so I can loop my arm through his like we'd done on the way out of the hospital. We walk to the door together, and when reaching the foot of the stairs, Kelly moves ahead of me and turns so his back is to the stairs.

"Careful now," he warns as I start up the first stair, his hands again gripping my forearms.

"I'll be fine." I brush him off as we finish off the last of the three steps. "Seriously, you don't need to worry so much."

"Roughly this time two days ago, you were trapped underneath a metal ventilation system." Kelly looks to me with a disapproving glint in his eyes. "I think I've earned the right to be a little concerned after having to pull you out of two burning buildings."

I can't help but laugh a little at his logic, and he does too. I punch in the code on the door, and it unlocks itself as Kelly swings it open for us both. We step inside and the familiar musty smell greets me.

"I'm good here." I say, not wanting Kelly to come any further and see the rest of the building. It's bad enough he's even come inside; I don't know if I could take the embarrassment of him seeing exactly where I've been forced to stay the last three months.

Kelly looks up to the stairway above us and the several flights I'll have to climb.

"You can't be serious." He looks back down to me and I shrug.

"It's only the third floor, not too far up. It could be worse, I could be on the sixth floor." I point out, trying to keep things light.

"Well, I could care less if it was the first floor or the sixth. Either way I'm not letting you do it by yourself. You'd take ten minutes just to get up to the next floor." Kelly says, leading us the foot of the stairs.

I heave a sigh, knowing I am in no position to turn him down right now. My pride will have to take the hit and recover tomorrow. For right now, I'll let this happen.

I grip the handrail as we take on the first of the steps, Kelly on the other side of holding my elbow.

"See?" Kelly asks as we finish the first set of stairs. "You're moving slower than my grandma." He jokes and I laugh and shove his shoulder lightly.

"I'll have you know I am normally up and down these stairs within seconds." I say with narrowed eyes.

"Well, not today." Kelly chuckles as we take on the second set.

By the time we reach the top, he makes two more jabs at my slow speed and I wish I had more physical strength in me so I could nudge him harder or punch him in the shoulder. But instead I settle for knocking into his shoulder, making next to no impact, and half-decent comebacks.

"Right here." I say, jerking my chin to the door on our left.

We walk over and I stop at the door, releasing my arm from his hold. His eyes scan over me again, in such a way that he's expecting me to break or something.

"You sure you'll be okay?" he asks, his eyes travelling to the beige coloured door we stand in front of. The plastic glued on 4 of 34A is missing and looks rather pitiful.

"Kelly," I say with a laugh in my voice. "You waited at the hospital, you drove me home, you helped me all the way up the stairs…" I shake my head and giggle. "There's not much else you could do short of turning doorknobs and opening drawers for me." I say and he chuckles, looking down a little sheepishly.

"Right…Well I guess you might be capable of doing that on your own." He looks back up to meet my gaze, and I'm sad to see that the look of concern is still etched into his features.

"Seriously," I begin, going into my coat pocket to retrieve my key I collected from the hospital after being discharged. "All I'm going to do is walk in this apartment and go straight to the couch." I say, unlocking the door.

Kelly just nods wordlessly, and I don't know if he buys it or not, but I hope he does. I don't want to be a burden to anyone, let alone someone as nice and generous as him. I might be a burden to Veronica and Tucker, hell, they tell me all the time how much of a grievous task I am for them, but I don't feel as guilty being a burden to them than I do with Kelly. They're not good people, but he is. Everything about his character tells me he's a good person—and good people are the last ones I want to bring down with me.

"Just promise me you'll rest up—don't let those kids make you do too much for them." He nods his head to the door where we can hear their distant voices.

I smile and roll my eyes. "I can't make any promises when it comes to them, you should know that." I say with a smirk and Kelly just shakes his head.

I open the door and step inside.

"Thank you so much Kelly." I say, not sure what else to do. I just grip the door frame as I hear the other kids announce to one another that I'm back. "I'll try my best to take it easy." I say, and this time I mean it. I just wish he would stop looking so damn worried about me—it can't be healthy for someone to look like that all the time.

Kelly nods and his eyes travel to somewhere behind me. "I hope so." I hear footsteps and arms wrap around my uninjured leg. "Looks like you've got a visitor." He points out and I smile, looking down to see little Gracie blinking up at me.

"Addie, where have you been?" she asks innocently.

"Go back to the living room with the others, I'll explain in a few minutes okay?" I ask gently, and she just nods and releases her grip.

"Hi Kelly," she says quickly with a beaming smile.

"Hey Grace," he replies with a grin.

"Thanks for brining Addie back." She tells him and he chuckles and shoves his hands into the pockets of his CFD jacket.

"Well, someone's got to keep an eye on her." He jokes, and Gracie just giggles before skipping off back to the living room.

"Take care Kelly." I say, ready to close the door.

"You too kid, I mean it." His tone is sincere but stern. I just give a light laugh before bringing the door closer.

"Bye Kelly." I say, closing the door gently.

I sigh heavily, exhaustion coming over me. I turn and rest up against the door, a sinking feeling developing in my stomach.

It's a feeling I've come to know well. It's the feeling of saying goodbye to someone who you feel happy around. I've done it with friends at various schools over the years, foster siblings who get adopted or transferred…I hate the feeling, but I can't help myself from getting close to people. So often people expect foster kids to be damaged goods, closed off and distant, with no interest in getting close to anyone around them. But I find a lot of the time it's just the opposite: I long for connection, for feeling understood, and when it's ripped away I grieve its absence tremendously. A vicious cycle I don't know how to break out of.

 **A/N: Thank you SO much for the reviews and follows! So excited for where this story is heading and for all of you to watch it unfold :) Please keep R &R'ing, it means the world to me!**

 **All my love!**


	6. Chapter 6: Wake Up Call

**Kelly's P.O.V**

I get back to my car and once again find myself just sitting there for a few minutes, processing everything I've come to find out about Addison and her life. Part of me is angry, another part confused, but mostly I just feel helpless. It's like someone telling you someone's about to get hurt but not being able to do anything about it.

Because she will get hurt. Somehow, she's going to end up on the other end of some horrible, shitty person who doesn't recognize all the good in her. Someone as good as her should never be forced to go through one person after another who can't see it like so many others do.

I bring myself to leave after fifteen minutes, peeling away towards the firehouse.

When I arrive, Casey looks up from where he's putting some equipment away into 81.

"Hey." He greets me, eyes flashing over to my car. "Dawson and Shay told me about you going back to the hospital to see Addison. How she doing?" he asks and I shrug.

"About as well as can be expected. Her leg and lungs have taken a bit of beating with the fact she's been in two fires, but she's on the mend." I explain as he nods thoughtfully.

"Dropped her off again?" he asks, and I give a stiff nod. "What did the parents have to say?"

I give a bitter laugh. "What parents? They weren't even there." I say, and I watch as Casey's face falls, a look of bewilderment coming over him. "They didn't show up the whole time she was in the hospital…You know what she told me? She said they probably hadn't even realized she was gone."

Casey sighs and shakes his head. "I…God I will never be able to understand people like that." He says and I nod.

"You, me, and the rest of the sane population." I say and Casey looks to me pointedly for a moment.

"If there's anything you need, or she needs, just let me know. It seems like she's in a bad spot right now—If I can do something, I'd like to." He says, and I give a grateful nod.

"Thanks Casey, I appreciate that." I tell him, and with that I continue into the firehouse.

It only takes minutes before I'm ambushed by Dawson and Shay, both eager to find out more about her condition. Again, others overhear us talking and their curiosity seems pricked by Addison's story. Otis, Cruz, Mouch and Hermann sit at the main table, all looking down or away from one another, features etched with concern, disgust, or a combination of both.

"The thing I feel the worst about is the fact that her guitar got lost in the fire." I say to Shay and Dawson. "It's how she made any money for herself, sounded like one of the few things that made her happy too…Her mom gave her the guitar before she passed away, so it meant a lot to her." I frown and look down into my half full coffee cup.

"God, as if she hadn't come out of that fire with enough physical damage, she had to get the emotional damage piled on too." Dawson shakes her head, brown eyes full of a mixture of anger and sadness, a combination I've seen in my own eyes as of late.

"I don't know what to do." I admit, feeling a sense of exhaustion and defeat come over me.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and looking up, the crystal blue eyes of Shay look at me gently. "Kelly…Don't take this out on yourself. I think it's fair none of us would have any idea what to do—I mean look at us, we've barely met the girl and all of us are sitting here feeling like pieces of crap for not having a solution." She gives a sad laugh. "Something will happen, something will change."

I'm woken by the ringing of my cell phone. I was taking a mid-shift nap, the exhaustion of staying up, anxiously waiting while Addison was in the hospital, finally getting to me.

I blink in the darkness, trying to gather myself. What time even is it right now? I glance at my watch, barely making out the hands on the face of it. I think it reads 2:40am.

I grab my phone from the night table next to me, looking at the number. It's unknown, and I'm tempted to let it go to voicemail and not pick up. I'm so tired and going back to sleep sounds like a good idea right now. But my curiosity as to who the hell this could be gets the better of me, and I answer the call.

"Hello?" I answer, throat feeling dry and rough and rubbing my eyes.

"Kelly?"

I shoot bolt upright in my bed, my heart immediately picking up as I realize who it is.

"Addison—what's going on? Are you okay?" I ask immediately, knowing that if she's calling me at this God forsaken time, it's got to be bad.

"Oh God Kelly," she whispers, her voice cracking. She's crying, I can hear the thickness of the tears in her voice. "I saw something." She breathes. "I saw something I wasn't supposed to see and now…" she sobs softly. "Oh my God he's going to kill me."

I stand up and make my way out of my quarters. "Who, Addison? What—what did you see?" I question her, I can feel adrenaline shooting through my body.

"T-Tucker…He killed him. He killed him, and I saw it, and now…Now he's going to come after me." She cries softly. "S-someone saw us today, saw you. He has eyes everywhere—came after me for hanging out with a cop." She speaks softly, as if trying to keep quiet. "I tried to tell him, b-but he didn't believe me. He just kept…kept hitting me…He left but I think he's going to come back to finish me off."

My stomach gathers in knots with this new information. "Okay Addison, look, don't move, don't go anywhere, don't talk to anyone, just…Stay put okay? I'm coming right now." I say, running out to the main hall where everyone is lounging around quietly, either playing cards, drinking coffee, or watching TV.

"Oh God." I hear on the other end. "He's…He's back Kelly." She barely whispers it, voice trembling and terrified.

 _Click_.

I hear the line go dead.

"Addison!" I exclaim into my phone, panic rising inside my chest. "Son of a bitch!" I yell, slamming my hands down on the countertop in frustration.

"Whoa, whoa, Kelly—calm down, what's going on?" Casey asks from the table, standing up.

My breathing is ragged, fear gripping my lungs. "We need to go." I manage to say. "It's Addison, she's in trouble, like life or death trouble, we need to go." I say before taking off for the truck.

I hear everyone scramble to their feet behind me as I launch myself into our truck. I can hardly wait for the rest of squad to get in before Cap climbs in behind the wheel and tears down the street.

I give him directions, the route to Addison's building engraved in my head while Cruz follows behind us in 81. I hear Casey put in a call to dispatch for police backup as we approach the building.

We've hardly come to a stop when I throw the door open. I immediately go to Casey's truck where he and his crew are unloading.

"Kelly, fill us in here—what are we walking into?" he asks and I shake my head, running my hands through my hair and gripping the back of my neck in distress.

"I don't know Casey, she just told me she saw something she shouldn't have and that her foster parent Tucker was going to kill her for it because he saw me with her today—thought I was a cop. Said he already killed someone and that she's next." The words come out in a tornado, my tone frantic.

"If that's true then he could be armed, he could have others with him. We need to wait for PD on this one." His voice is calm and certain but the terror I feel, the pit in my stomach telling me I need to do something, only grows.

"We don't know if we have that kind of time Casey! She said he came back right as she hung up! He's probably got her right now!" I yell, looking to her building and feeling my heart racing in my chest.

Two hands grip my shoulders, and I look back to see Casey's stern blue gaze staring me down.

"Severide, we could be losing more than just her tonight if we charge in there. We need to wait." He says firmly.

I go to retort, to tell him that he doesn't get to tell me what to do and doesn't understand what kind of danger Addison's in. That he doesn't understand this girl and how much I care, how I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her.

But before I get the chance to say anything, a shrill, gut-wrenching scream rings out in the still night air around us. It sends a chill through my body, making me feel sick.

Everyone's heads snap over to where it came from—down the left end of the street.

Immediately I take off, sprinting towards it.

"Kelly! Kelly!" I hear the calls of the others behind me but take no time to think about it as I push on.

"Addison!" I yell out for her, hoping she'll make another noise, a scream or something, to tell me where to go. "ADDISON!" I stop mid-way down the street, chest heaving and feeling my body tingling with adrenaline.

"KELLY!"

Her voice reaches me just seconds before I see her.

She's running, running for her life. She rounds the corner and the one streetlamp illuminates her. She's wearing pyjamas, hair in a tangled mess. I can't see very well but I can tell she's hurt. Despite her leg, her stride is strong.

I feel so relieved to see her, nothing else in the world matters to me right now aside from the fact that she's alive. She's alive and breathing and running to me. I hear sirens approaching, but the sound barely registers with me.

"Kelly!" she yells again as she barrels closer to me, and I start to meet her halfway. But the look of terror on her face confuses me and I stop in my tracks—I expected relief, not this. "Run!" she calls out, and I can hear now that she's calling out to warn me. "KELLY RUN!"

At that moment, I see three figures round the same corner in hot pursuit. They're all big and less athletic than her, bumbling behind at half the pace she's keeping.

"Severide!" I hear from behind me, and I recognize Casey's voice. He's followed me down here. Him and who knows who else from his truck crew.

I look to the three buffoons, seeing that the one in the middle has something in his hand—it shines in the dim light, metallic: a gun.

"Kelly, run!" her voice urges me as she gets closer.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

Shot after shot rings out, and Addison screams.

I stop breathing for a moment, expecting Addison to drop to the ground, thinking Tucker shot her. But instead the shots come from behind me, and the three men all collapse onto the pavement mid-stride, bodies riddled with bullets.

I hear the voices of others behind me, mostly those of my co-workers calling to me, but other voices of what I can only assume to be cops.

Time itself seems to have slowed down…The yelling of people behind me lessens, fading into the background. There are sirens as well, but the sound of my own heartbeat throbbing in my ears drowns it out.

She's closer now, only about 30 feet away. Her eyes are wide with terror, her chest heaves with the effort of forcing herself forward, her lungs hardly able to handle it after all that's happened.

I start to make my way to her, feet feeling like lead as I do so. I eat up the remaining pavement between us slowly, too slowly. I catch sight of her bruised and bleeding face—she's so close now, only one more foot.

Then all at once, time catches up at the same moment she slams into me, throwing her arms around my neck and I stumble backwards from the force, but steady myself and a massive breath of relief escapes from my lungs.

She's here, and she's safe, and she's alive. As soon as these three facts are proven to me, my stomach untwists itself and my breathing begins to normalize.

She's crying so hard into my shoulder, her whole body shaking as I hold her. Her legs are wrapped around my middle, like a small child would do to their parent. She's crushing me to her, holding tight fistfuls of my jacket in her grip.

"Shh," I soothe, putting one hand on the back of her head, feeling her tangled hair but smoothing it down as gently as possible. "I got you, I got you. It's over now. It's over Addie." I reassure her, hoping that her violent sobbing will subside just a bit. It kills me to hear her like this.

She doesn't let go as I turn around to see the scene that gathered behind me: Casey and his 81 crew are all standing behind a wall of police cruisers, lights flashing and lighting up their relieved but also sad looks. Shay and Dawson stand with their gurney at the ready, and I see them both wipe their cheeks quickly before exchanging words with one of the officers. He gives them both a nod and they rush forward with the gurney.

I walk towards them and speak calmly to Addison. "Hey, my friends here need to take a look at you okay?" I say gently and immediately, if it's possible, her grip on me tightens.

"No, no, no." she begs, her voice quiet but still filled with fear.

I return the tight squeeze, letting her know I understand her hesitancy. "I need you to trust me." I say as the gurney comes to a halt in front of me. I step forward and lower her down onto it gingerly, unsure of the extent of her injuries and not wanting to make anything worse.

Addison lets go of me as she positions herself on the gurney but grabs my hand right away. Now that I've put her down I can see her condition more clearly: her lip is swollen and has been split open, dried blood running down her chin and neck. There's major bruising around her whole face, I can tell they must have all been having a go at her, particularly her left eye—it's going to be a shiner. There are superficial scrapes and cuts all along her forearms and legs probably from trying to get away and fighting back, not to mention the stitching on her original laceration having been ripped apart and bleeding again.

I feel a type of anger I've never felt before. No, not anger. Rage. Fury. An anger so hot it makes the blood in my veins boil and a metallic taste to gather in my mouth. I could kill the people who did this to her and not feel an ounce of regret or remorse.

Her tear stained blue eyes look up at me, scared. "Don't go." She says, her grip on my hand vice-like.

I place a hand against her face gingerly as Shay listens to her breathing, stethoscope on her back. Addison leans into my touch, holding my hand there.

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'll be here the whole time." I say solemnly, never having meant anything so much in my life.

She nods, blinking as more tears run down her cheeks, releasing my hand from her face and laying back.

"We need to get her to the ER now." Dawson says as Shay finishes with her stethoscope.

"Breathing is laboured but should be fine with some oxygen." She tells her partner as we all set off toward the ambo.

I clamber in behind Dawson as Shay loads Addison into the back. Dawson wastes no time getting to work, giving Addison an oxygen mask.

"Just take some nice deep breaths into this sweetie." Gabby instructs gently, getting to work on checking her blood pressure and other vitals.

I never let go of Addison's somewhat trembling hand the whole ride there, and keep my eyes fixed on her face. She closes her eyes, doing as Dawson says and focusing on her breathing. Like this, laying back and eyes closed, she looks completely exhausted. And she is; what she must have had to put her body through to get away from them and run God knows how far, with bad lungs and a leg injury.

"That's it, just keep breathing honey. You're going to be okay." Dawson touches her hair, smoothing it back once before radioing the hospital of our approach.

The doors are thrown open moments later, and I hop out in time for Shay and Gabby to lower Addison's gurney back onto the pavement. We take to the ER entrance at a jog, seeing a team of doctors and nurses making their way to us.

"Female, fourteen, sustained several injuries to the face, arms and legs, including an open laceration to the upper left thigh. BP is 90 over 60." Dawson informs them all quickly, never missing a beat.

A woman with dark hair nods. "Let's get her into four!" she calls out to the rest of her team.

Shay and Dawson let them take over, but I don't let go of Addison's hand as her scared eyes find mine.

"Sir this is as far as you go." The lead doctor tells me as we near a curtain.

"No I'm staying." The words come out in a flat tone, one to let her know I'm not to be argued with.

"Are you family?" she asks me, dark eyes narrowing.

I pause for a half a second, looking back down to Addie and her wide terror filled eyes. It doesn't take anything more for me to decide.

"Yes."

The woman sighs and nods. "Fine, but we need you out of the way." She says with an annoyed undertone, and I nod.

"I'll be right here." I say to Addison softly, releasing her hand. She reacts immediately, trying to sit up and reaching for me frantically. She makes muffled sounds of protest from underneath her mask.

"Hold her back!" the lead doctor demands, and two of the nurses work at holding Addison down on her bed as she pushes against them.

"I'm right here Addie! It's okay! Let them work, I'm right here!" I try to assure her, but she only continues to try and reach for me, and I can hear her sobs from underneath her mask.

My heart clenches, hating to see her like this. After a few more seconds of watching her panic, I push my way back through the nurses, using my shoulders to nudge them away and pulling their hands off of her.

"Let go, let go!" I tell them as Addison's hands find my own and she sits back, still crying but calmer than before. "Can't you see she's in shock?" I exclaim, looking to her massively dilated pupils and pale skin. They all look to me, realizing Addison is now relaxing. "Just…" I look back to her. "Work around me." I say flatly, gripping her hand a little tighter.

They do as I say, working around me to tend to her wounds. Addison's eyes remain closed as they do their work, and my eyes never leave her face. They go about stitching up her leg again, as well as bandaging her split lip and a few other scrapes and cuts.

After about thirty minutes of work, the nurses disperse, and I'm left alone with the doctor in charge who's now jotting things down on Addison's chart. Addison hasn't said a word, but her eyes are heavy as she blinks, and I can tell the exhaustion is starting to take over.

"What's going on with her doc?" I ask, and the doctor's dark eyes flash up to meet my own.

"Well, quite frankly I'm surprised you found her standing at all. Her open laceration caused quite a bit of blood loss, not to mention the bleeding from her lip and other defensive wounds." She begins. "She has extensive bruising around her face, she's lucky to not have a cracked skull or broken cheek bones. However she does have two cracked ribs. But her lungs are doing better than expected, although we've got her on antibiotics to make sure an infection doesn't start up." She finishes, signing the bottom of the page and slipping the chart back into the pocket at the end of the bed.

I swallow back the lump in my throat; I knew she was hurt, but hearing it all spelled out for me somehow makes it more real.

"How long are we looking at for recovery?" I ask and the doctor sighs heavily.

"Honestly, it could be a few days, or it could be a few weeks; depending on how she reacts to the meds to get her airways cleared up. But if she's made it this far, I'd have some faith that she'll make it out of this one fairly soon." The doctor says and I nod.

"Just out of curiosity…What happened to her?" the doctor asks me as I watch Addison's heavy eyes finally close, and I can tell she's drifting off.

I shake my head. "I'm still trying to figure that out."

 **A/N: A huge thanks to all of you following the story and reviewing! Means a ton to me, so please keep it coming! I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter, the next one will come soon!**

 **All my love!**


	7. Chapter 7: Beginnings

Chapter 7: Beginnings

 **Third Person P.O.V**

Casey, Dawson, and Shay all stand outside Addison's room, deep in conversation. They had returned to firehouse 51 after being told the extent of Addison's injuries and that there was no chance for visitors. They had given it a day and had all collectively decided to come back down. They all couldn't help but want to see her themselves and openly speculate as to what exactly had happened to her.

"Antonio is looking into it as part of a gang investigation, he told me he would keep me updated on what they find out." Dawson says, a subtle tone of hope in her voice.

"Gang?" Casey asks. "I just thought this was a case of child abuse. You're telling me the guy was involved with gangs as well?" he repeats with a look of surprise.

Shay scoffs. "With injuries like hers, it's not hard to tell there was more than one person beating up on her. It's amazing she managed to get away before they killed her." Her tone is dark and flat, but they all realize the grim truth in it.

"It would be nice to find out how she did it—how long has she been out, anyway?" Dawson asks, looking to her watch. "Jesus, almost thirteen hours." She shakes her head.

"Well her body has been through hell and back within the last two days—wouldn't surprise me if she doesn't wake up until tomorrow. With that much trauma..." Shay doesn't finish her thought, instead looking into the room they had moved her to.

Addison lays motionless, only her chest rising and falling rhythmically. She no longer breathes through the oxygen mask: a good sign, Shay and Dawson know. However, she sleeps curled into Kelly—he, at some point, clambered onto the bed and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders and drifted off himself. His head rests atop hers and Addison in turn has an arm draped across his middle securely, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

"I had no idea how close Kelly actually got to her." Shay admits out loud to them. "It didn't occur to me how much she mattered to him until we were riding back to the hospital in the ambo after the second fire."

Dawson shakes her head. "I never expected any of this—I mean we're all told from day one to stay out of the business of those we save but…After everything we've found out about Addison, I can see why he couldn't stand idly by. Would've driven me nuts too."

Casey nods. "I've never seen this side of him…He's acting like, like…" he struggles to find the right word.

"Like her dad." Shay finishes the sentence for him and the three of them just continue to look, taking in the sight of the two of them.

 **Kelly's P.O.V**

I sip my coffee while watching the soap opera playing on the TV mounted on the wall across Addison's room. It's dry and tasteless—everyone is sleeping with everyone, one child is secretly adopted, and another is plotting to kill their grandmother to inherit the family fortune. The usual.

Addie's still sleeping, has been for almost seventeen hours now. I woke up just over an hour ago and gingerly got myself out of the bed and down to the cafeteria without waking her.

The whole reason I wound up laying next to her to begin with was because of how she woke up: screaming with tears running down her face. She was completely incoherent, only making whimpers of distress and shaking her head furiously, as if trying to shake the bad dreams from her mind. I tried talking to her, holding her hand, and when I hugged her she finally seemed to calm down a bit. I didn't want to let her go, but also knew how exhausted she was. That's when I decided to squeeze in next to her, understanding she just needed to be held—I think because after all she's been through, she can't hold herself together anymore.

I look back to her, relief overcoming me once more. Thank God she got away when she did. If I had to watch her being carried away in a body bag…My stomach turns violently at the thought and I immediately shove it down. I can't think like that; she's here and she's going to be fine.

Matt, Leslie, and Gabby all stopped in earlier, offering their support but also wanting to have an update. I told them what I could, but as far as finding out what had happened to her in the moments leading up to us finding her, I didn't know.

While part of me is frustrated and anxious to find out what happened, another part of me doesn't want to know. I don't know if I'll be able to process all that potentially happened to her.

Voices from outside Addison's door catch my attention, pulling me from my thoughts. I stand from my seat, setting my coffee cup down on the tray next to Addie's bed. I stride forward and pull the door open a little more from its ajar position.

I poke my head outside the door and see Addison's doctor—Doctor Vincent, the one who told me I needed to get out of the way when we first came in—and another woman, in what seems to be a thoughtful conversation. The second woman is dressed in an impeccable pantsuit, with her dark hair pulled back in a slick, business savvy bun…she's the kind of woman I imagine doesn't smile much. Her whole demeanour screams 'don't play around with me'. What also catches my eye is the briefcase in her hand.

"Miss Hunter needs her rest." I overhear Doctor Vincent say, and that's all it takes for me before I decide I need to be involved in this conversation.

"Hey, excuse me." I say, and both women turn to look at me. "What's going on here? Why are you talking about Addison?"

Briefcase lady sighs heavily and sends an annoyed look to Doctor Vincent, as if she's let the cat out the bag too soon.

"I take it you're Kelly Severide?" briefcase lady asks me, a tired look on her features.

"Yeah I am. Who's asking?" I fire back, crossing my arms. I don't know what this lady is here for, but I know I don't like it.

"My name is Joan Walters, I'm with DCFS. Department of Child and Family Services." She tells me, and right away I feel my heart pick up its pace—if she's here then it can't be anything good.

"I know what the DCFS is. What I don't know is what you're doing here." I say, not able to keep my tone from being rude.

Doctor Vincent looks between the two of us and steps away, removing herself from the conversation.

"I'm here because Addison Hunter's care is a concern of the state of Illinois." She begins. "Being that one of her foster parent's is dead and the other is grieving and has refused to continue care of her, and the other children, I am here to assess Addison and get her ready to be moved to another home."

I feel the shock of this run through me, closely followed by anger. "Are you kidding me?" I burst. "She hasn't even woken up yet! She's laying in that bed because the guy you deemed 'suitable', beat her, kicked her, and chased her down with a gun! He was going to kill her!" I exclaim, stepping toward her.

"DCFS cannot be held responsible—" she begins, sounding like she's reading from a stupid pamphlet and all its fine print and disclaimers.

"My ass you can't be held responsible!" I seethe. "She had to live in that hell hole for months and look what happened because DCFS failed to ever give a damn!" I tell her, pointing to her room where she's still resting.

Briefcase lady can't help but look to Addison uncomfortably. "Look, DCFS sympathizes with Addison's situation. But protocol is protocol, and once she is ready to be discharged she will be transferred into another home. I'm here to oversee that process."

I shake my head. "No. No way. You can't just take her from one broken home to another." I say, adamant. "Did the doctor not tell you about the PTSD she's experiencing right now?" I ask her incredulously and briefcase lady just shrugs.

"DCFS does have access to counselling services if she needs it." She says simply, and I just laugh bitterly and shake my head.

"No, this isn't happening. You can't just take her!" I can't help but raise my voice. I close my eyes, inhaling a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. "Look, she's not leaving with you. I'm going to take care of her, so whatever you need to do to make that happen, do it." I say stiffly, and briefcase looks at me like I've lost my mind.

"Mr. Severide, you do realize you're asking to have temporary custody of Miss Hunter—" she starts but I cut her off.

"Yes I know what I'm asking! Just give me the damn papers and I'll sign whatever I need to." I say, glancing down to her briefcase still clutched in hand. I look back up to meet her gaze, she still looks taken aback.

"If that's what you want." She says and I nod.

"It is." I confirm.

For the next ten minutes I fill out several forms, signing and initialing more times than I can count. Briefcase lady tells me the terms and conditions of this temporary custody arrangement: I'll be seen as her legal guardian in the eyes of the law for a maximum of one year. After that one year is up I can either opt to have Addison put back in the system or apply for permanent guardianship that will recognize me as her guardian until she is 18 years old.

"That's the last of it." Briefcase lady says, gathering up the small stack of papers I had gone through. "From this point forward, Addison Hunter is in your care Mr. Severide."

I nod as we stand from the table in the cafeteria.

"Thank you." I say as she clips her briefcase shut.

She nods, still all business. "Best of luck Mr. Severide." She says before turning on her heel and walking towards the door.

I make my way back to Addison's room, head spinning. Part of me can hardly believe I just signed up to look after a 14-year-old kid for the next year, but another part of me knows that if this was the only way to keep her from going back, I'd do it a hundred times over.

I sink back down into the seat next to her bed. She's still sleeping soundly but looks better than a few hours ago. Some of the colour is returning to her face, her olive skin no longer pale and tinted that awful undertone of green.

I reach over, taking her small hand into my own. I squeeze it gently, wondering if maybe in her unconscious state she's able to tell that I'm here.

"Looks like it's just you and me now kid." I murmur, frowning when I wonder how much longer it'll be before she wakes up.

I finally make it to Boden's office after being stopped a dozen times by people passing by, wondering how Addison is. Everyone seems to be interested in her condition, rallying for her after what they witnessed outside her apartment building.

I raise my hand to the door, rapping my knuckles against it twice before opening it and peering inside.

Boden is situated behind his desk, eyes flickering up as I step in.

"Hey Chief, do you have a minute?" I ask him, closing the door behind me softly.

"What can I do for you Severide?" he asks, pushing himself back from his desk a bit in order to fold his hands over his middle.

I sink down into the chair across from him. "Well, you're going to be the first to hear this, but I just came from the hospital. Addison's still there, still not awake. But DCFS showed up, ready to take her away to another home as soon as she became conscious." I explain, the pang of anger hitting me again as I do so. "I couldn't…I couldn't let them just waltz in there and take her off to some other abusive, damaged home." I sigh heavily. "So I went through the paperwork and, well, I'm her guardian now—only for the next year; it's a temporary custody agreement. But I am." I finish, trying to gauge his reaction.

Boden is thoughtful for a moment before speaking. "That's a very commendable thing to do Severide. I can understand, why after everything you came to find out about her, why you felt a need to step in." he nods.

"Thanks Chief, it's just, well whenever Addison wakes up, I was hoping to take a day or two off just to help her settle into mine and Shay's place—I haven't even told her yet, but we'll figure it out. I just need some time to do that." I say, rubbing my hands against my pants anxiously.

Boden gives a solemn nod. "Sure thing Kelly. You take care of what you need to; I don't doubt the others will be willing to pick up the slack to make that happen for you and Addison."

I smile and rise from the chair. "Thanks a lot Chief." I say and he just gives a small smile.

"I'm sure she'll be happy to get the chance at some normalcy with you and Shay." Boden replies, and I give a strained laugh.

"Yeah, no kidding. Thanks again." I respond, and with that I leave his office, closing the door behind me once more.

I set out to find Shay and find her stocking the shelves of the ambo with Dawson. Both women look up at the sound of my approach, their faces lighting up in anticipation—probably hoping to hear that Addison's awake.

"Hey." I give a small wave. "Shay…Do you have a second? Wanted to talk to you about something." I say, and within seconds she's next to me on the ground.

"Sure, let's go." She says, putting her arm through mine and pulling me outside the doors.

We stop once we're a good distance away and around the side of the firehouse. Her blue eyes are spiked with interest, hands shoved deeply into the pockets of her vest.

"What's going on? Is this about Addison? Has she woken up?" she fires her questions at me and I give a laugh.

"Whoa, whoa, one thing at a time." I joke, and Shay rolls her eyes at me. "No changes in her condition, I mean she is looking better but she hasn't woken up yet. But yeah, this about her." I nod and Shay looks to me, shaking her head slightly in a 'go on' kind of way. "Basically DCFS showed up today and told me they were getting ready to transfer her to another home once she wakes up." I begin re-telling the rest of the story.

By the end of it Shay has mirrored the similar anger and frustration I had. "I would have done the same thing Kelly." She says and that fills me with a sense of relief. "Of course she can stay with us—she needs to be around people who care about her."

I break into a smile and pull Shay into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. "Thank you, I was hoping you'd say that." I tell her and she giggles in my hold.

"Well I haven't let you down yet, have I?" she asks cheekily as we let go of one another and I look to her, raising a finger in mock warning.

"Don't push it Shay." I say and she laughs and punches me lightly in the arm.

We start walking back to the firehouse, entering the common room. The familiar buzz of chatter and the sound of dishes as Mills moves around the kitchen is comforting after all that's happened.

As Shay begins fixing herself a cup of coffee, I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I reach in, pulling it out to glance down at the screen.

Immediately I answer upon seeing the caller ID.

"Hello?" I answer, and Shay looks to me in question as she sips her coffee.

"Kelly Severide?" the voice on the other line asks me.

"Yes, that's me." I confirm.

"This is Monica at Chicago Medical, I was told to call you about any updates on Addison Hunter's condition. I just wanted to let you know she's conscious and alert." I feel a weight I didn't know I'd been carrying lift off my shoulders.

"Great, thank you for letting me know." I say before quickly ending the call.

Shay looks to me with interest, and a few others have their eyes on me as well.

"Well?" she asks expectantly. "What was that all about?"

I feel a smile slowly spread across my face, and a sense of excitement beginning to build.

"That was the hospital." I say, and this immediately grabs everyone's attention.

The faces of Casey, Dawson, Cruz, Mills, Mouch, Hermann and Otis all look to me with increased curiosity.

"She's awake."

 **Addison's P.O.V**

I wait in my bed with increasing anxiousness—I know they have called Kelly, but some awful, scared part of me wonders if maybe he won't bother showing up this time. If maybe he's figured out I'm just a magnet for bad luck and trouble, and his life would be made a lot easier without me in it.

No, he wouldn't do that.

I tell myself firmly, refusing to believe that someone as good as him would do something so hurtful.

Suddenly footsteps and voices prick my ears and I look to the door at the same moment it is swung open.

Kelly jogs in, a broad grin on his face. But he isn't alone: the blonde paramedic Shay comes in hot on his heels.

"Kelly," I breathe out in relief, a smile gracing my own features as I feel tears of happiness sting my eyes. I reach for him as he approaches my bedside, and he leans down to hug me tightly.

I close my eyes and the tears roll down my cheeks. It's like if I stay here long enough, maybe the broken pieces of me will fit back together.

"Hey kid," he says with a chuckle, his hand on the back of my head securely.

We pull apart and his face is blurry as I blink away more tears. He cups my face, thumbs swiping the tears away.

"Hey now, I think you've done enough of that." He says good naturedly and I can't help but laugh through the tears.

He releases my face and steps away just enough to let me have a good look at Shay standing behind him.

"You probably don't remember me." She says sheepishly, a smile gracing her pretty features.

"Of course I do." I say with a shake of my head. "You're Leslie Shay, you're one of the paramedics who's treated me the last couple times." I say and I outstretch my arms.

She seems a little surprised at my gesture, but steps forward and wraps her arms around me.

"Thank you for everything." I mumble, feeling more tears coming on. "I might not be alive if not for you." I say as she pulls away, and I see her eyes are shiny with her own tears.

I clutch her hand tightly and she waves a hand.

"Dawson deserves some credit too." She shrugs and I smile.

"Is she coming too?" I ask, not able to hold back the feeling of hope and excitement.

Kelly chuckles. "She's come by twice to check on you so far, so it wouldn't surprise me if she stops by again." He tells me and I feel my heart swell in my chest at this news; they all care, they actually do. "The whole firehouse has been jumping down my throat about getting updates on you."

I feel my eyes widen. "Seriously?" I ask and laugh a little bit. "That's so nice." I mumble in amazement.

"How are you feeling?" Shay asks me, her eyes looking over me and glancing up to my heart monitor.

I shrug. "Honestly, aside from the slight burning feeling when I breathe too deeply, not that bad." I say and they both look to me with saddened looks. "How bad do I look is the real question." I laugh and both their lips twitch upward.

"Do you…" Kelly sits down in the chair across from me. "I don't want to force anything before you're ready, but if you want to, you can talk about it. About what happened before I found you." He says gently, grey eyes sincere.

I feel my smile fade as the memories come back in a flood. "After I called you, I left the apartment." I begin. "I figured if Tucker and his goons were going to come after me, it should at least be away from the kids, so they didn't get mixed up in it." I take a deep breath, wincing slightly as that dull burning sensation hits me deep in my chest. "He was coming through the front doors by the time I made it downstairs. So I ran the opposite way and went out the back door." I recall my frantic breathing and the shooting pain in my leg as I pushed myself harder than I should have. "I didn't know where I was running, I just kept going. It was just so dark and I was crying and couldn't see anything." I shake my head and look down to where Shay tightens her hold on my hand. "I took a wrong turn and wound up at a dead end. Tucker and them all caught up, and honestly I don't know why he didn't just pull the trigger right then and there."

I look up to meet Kelly's troubled eyes, and I can tell that relaying all of this to him is just as painful, if not more so, as it is for me.

"What did he do?" Shay's voice is soft as she asks me this.

"He said they should have some fun with me first before they ended it. They threw me down, hit me, kicked me…I sort of went numb after the first ten blows. I could barely see since they had hit me in the head, but the fence I was backed up against had a small hole in the bottom of it." I explain. "I did what I could: kicked back, punched and pushed…It didn't do much, but it gave me enough to distract them with so I could inch my way closer to the opening." I tell them. "Then I got a good kick in on Tucker, right in the balls." I say with a satisfied grin, and I see Kelly and Shay looking amused. "That was the time I needed to pull myself through the hole. I scraped myself up pretty good against the pavement." I recall the feeling of my flesh dragging against it. "But I got up and started running again: that's when I found my way back to the main road. But Tucker and his guys caught up with me, I could hear them yelling behind me. When I heard your voice Kelly, I answered back, but I was wanting to get you away from me." I explain, the feeling of my haggard breathing coming back as I glance up to Kelly.

"Well I wasn't about to do that." He answers and I roll my eyes and nod.

"I should have expected as much." I say, and he smirks while I go on. "Then the shots rang out and…God, I thought Tucker had shot you." I shake my head, heart feeling heavy.

"I thought he'd got you." Kelly says and I bite my lip, trying to keep from crying.

"I couldn't stop thinking about how guilty I'd feel if I wound up being the reason both of us got hurt or killed." I blink and the tears stream down my cheeks in a trail of hot salt.

I feel Kelly's hand take hold of my other hand, getting up to sit on the edge of my bed.

"You're safe now. We both are. That's what matters." He says with conviction in his gaze and I nod.

"I know…It just…I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't been there." I sniffle and he squeezes my hand.

"Well I was. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, you know that." Kelly says with a gentle smile. I give a half-hearted laugh and nod gratefully, reaching up to wipe my cheeks. "By the way, another thing…" he glances over to Shay before setting his eyes on me once again. "A social worker from DCFS showed up a couple hours ago: wanted to prep you for transfer to another home." I feel my stomach plummet and hit the floor beneath me at the thought of having to leave here…Leave Kelly.

"Sounds about right." I say in a monotone voice. DCFS never fails to show up at just the wrong time.

"Well don't worry about it. I scared them off by…" he trails off for a moment, as if he's trying to figure out the right way to continue. "By signing some papers making me, well making me and Shay I guess, but mostly me, since I signed the forms," he rambles on, and it's the first time I've seen him act nervous. "Your temporary guardian." The words finally roll of his tongue.

I feel my whole face fall, my eyes widening as his words sink in. I bring my hands out of their grasp in order to cover my mouth as my eyes fill to the brim with tears. I close them, the wetness spilling over as a soft sob breaks through me.

Shay's hand goes to my back, rubbing it soothingly.

"Are you—are you s-serious?" I manage to get out between breaths and I look up to see Kelly with a smile on his face, nodding.

"Damn straight kid. You'll come live with us once you're given the green light." He confirms, and I feel my chest swelling so much it feels like my heart might burst with happiness.

I reach forward, wrapping an arm around each of them as the tears refuse to let up. I crush them to me and feel each of them wrap an arm around me.

Shay starts laughing, and Kelly and I do too as we grip one another in our group hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," I whisper over and over again, not being able to comprehend the reality of what this means.

 **A/N: There it is! Kelly's taken on a new responsibility with Addison now legally in his care-which only begs the question if this transition will be smooth sailing or turbulent. Thanks all so much for the comments and following this story, it truly means so much to see that! Until next time!**

 **Xoxox**


	8. Chapter 8: Back to Normal

**Addison's P.O.V**

It's been two days since Leslie and Kelly came in to tell me the surreal news that I was going to be going home with them once I was ready. And today was the day: I was going to be discharged at noon.

Kelly was determined that I wouldn't be the one to go back and collect my things from the Gregson's. He went yesterday with Lieutenant Casey's truck and loaded up the few boxes of things I had and brought it to his apartment.

Leslie and him have a spare third bedroom after their roommate Otis opted to move out. Leslie said once I'm settled in I can choose my own bedspread and decorations, and that alone has me with butterflies in my stomach.

At eleven thirty my nurse Monica comes in and starts to remove the IV needles and different monitors I'm hooked up to. We make small talk while she does so, bur even when she leaves it's only eleven forty-five.

I'm trying to stay interested in the wildlife channel that my TV has been tuned into for the last hour, but the minutes seem to only drag on even more. I'm learning about humming birds when I hear the doorknob turning.

I look up in time to see Kelly and Shay walking in. Kelly has a wheelchair in hand and Shay a pile of familiar clothing.

"Hey kid," Kelly greets me, and I give him a grin while looking down to the chair he's wheeling towards me.

"I'm guessing this is a non-negotiable again?" I ask and he chuckles, bringing it to a halt next to my bed.

"You catch on quick." He teases, and I roll my eyes as he snickers.

Shay stands next to Kelly, holding the pile of clothes out to me. "I brought these for you, figured you wouldn't want to be leaving here in that gown." She glances down to the attire I've been sporting for the last few days.

I make a mock look of surprise. "What are you talking about? This old thing? Come on Shay, this is my best look yet." I joke and she grins, laughing as I take the stack from her.

"Don't worry, I didn't trust Kelly to put together something fashionable enough. I chose it." Leslie smirks as Kelly sends her a look of annoyance.

"Don't listen to her, I feel like the outfit I picked was good." He defends and Shay looks to him with raised brows.

"Kelly you had her wearing all black—this is a celebration, not a memorial." Leslie says and I giggle.

"Black is always fashionable—you can't go wrong. I mean look at me." He glances down to his own outfit: black leather jacket, black jeans and black boots.

Shay rolls her eyes. "I rest my case." She mutters, and I grin thinking about the coming months with them and their antics. "Come on, let's get you up and changed." Shay moves around me, putting an arm around my lower back as I grip the guardrail of the bed and swing my legs over the edge.

"I'm good here Shay." I assure her as we get to the bathroom and laugh when she gives me a look of hesitance. "I swear, if I can't get my pants on or something I will sound the alarm." I gently turn her around and push her from the doorway.

"I'll be right outside!" she calls out to me as I close the door.

I laugh and shake my head, peeling off my gown and getting into my familiar feeling clothes. Leslie chose a good outfit for me, and I smile to myself as I imagine her and Kelly arguing over who made the better combination.

I open the door and find them waiting for me, and Kelly wheels the chair over. I sigh and glower slightly as I sink down into it, and he just chuckles to himself.

Shay takes the gown from me and sets it on the bed. "Ready to get out of here sweetheart?" she asks and I smile broadly.

"I was ready yesterday." I say and they both give a laugh as I'm rolled out of my room.

We make our way down the hallway, passing by the nurse's station where I give a quick wave to Monica who does the same.

"Oh by the way," Kelly starts. "There's a couple people here who wanted to see you off." He says with a mischievous tone just as we round the corner to the waiting area.

The room is filled with people, all of them dawning Chicago Fire Department clothing and uniforms. As soon as they see me they all stand, cheering and clapping.

I can't help but cover my mouth in surprise and begin laughing. I look up to Kelly and Shay who are clapping themselves.

"What is all this?" I ask them and Shay shrugs.

"This is everyone who's been waiting just as long as us to see you get out of here." She says simply and I shake my head.

I sit forward, gripping the wheelchair's arms and pull myself up. Kelly immediately has a hand on my back, steadying me.

Within seconds I am being introduced to everyone, being pulled into one hug after another. Christopher, Gabby, Matt, Brian, Cap, Randy, Vargas, Wallace, Joe, and Peter.

"I…" I swallow back the lump in my throat as everyone looks to me, soft smiles still on their faces. "I can't even begin to tell you how much all of you being here means to me. I owe my life to each of you." I say solemnly. "So, even though it doesn't even begin to cover it," I laugh as I hear chuckles resounding around the crowd. "Thank you." I finish as they all grumble 'don't worry about it's and 'nah's.

"You'll have plenty of time to catch up with everyone at the firehouse." Kelly assures me. "For now, it's time to get you home." He says, and the way he says 'home' makes something inside me flutter.

I sink back down into the wheelchair. "Lead the way Lieutenant." I smirk using his formal term and he chuckles and rolls his eyes at me.

"Say goodbye to Addison everyone!" Shay calls out, and a chorus of goodbyes follows.

I laugh and wave goodbye as I'm wheeled away from the waiting area and toward the doors.

We clamber into Kelly's car and we take off, chatting the whole way to their building.

Just getting into the main lobby where we wait for the elevator, I can't believe how nice this place is in comparison to the places I've been in the last year. For one, there's no lingering smell of mildew or mold, the light fixtures aren't adorned with thick layers of dust or cobwebs…This place feels like The Ritz.

When we reach their floor Kelly walks with me to the door as Shay goes about unlocking it. She swings it open with a dramatic flourish that makes me giggle.

"And voila," she announces. "Mi casa es su casa." She smirks as we step inside.

I take in the modern interior, the hardwood floors, large windows, and open floor plan. I shake my head in disbelief.

"Wow." I murmur before Kelly launches into the complete tour of the place, ending upstairs, standing in front of a door I can only assume to be the one leading to my own bedroom.

"Go ahead," he says, jerking his chin towards the door. "It's all yours."

I smile and reach out, turning the knob and stepping in.

I feel my eyes widen when I take in the spacious area. The bed is situated on the right side of the wall, centered overtop of a white rug, complimenting the off-white walls. The bedding is a simple cream colour, with matching pillow cases. A dark wooden dresser is directly across from the bed, and in the corner a small desk is set up, a lamp sitting atop it. The big window box on the far side of the room looks out onto the bustling street below, cars passing by and people on bikes, on their way to who knows where. The couch situated into it is pleated with buttons fastening the fabric in a modern diagonal pattern.

"You can decorate however you want to," Shay begins as she walks in behind me. "A lot of this came with the place so just say the word and we can find somewhere else to put it all." She puts a hand on my shoulder, rubbing it gently.

Kelly walks forward to the window box and sits down. "Sitting here at night—it has a really great view of the city all lit up. Figured you would like that." He says with a hopeful look on his face, I'm sure trying to gauge my reaction to the room.

I shake my head and shrug, at a loss for words. "You guys…It's absolutely perfect." I say with a smile, reaching out to touch the soft fabric of the bed. "Been a while since I've had this." I say, thinking back in my mind.

"What?" asks Kelly, amused. "A room to yourself?" he guesses, and I shake my head.

"Well yeah, but that's not exactly what I meant." I answer, and I can tell this both throws them for a loop by their confused expressions. "A bed." I correct, running my fingers across the blanket, recalling all the nights of sleeping on the floor—I always gave the younger kids the bed, but sometimes there simply weren't enough to go around, and if you were the new kid in the house, seniority ruled.

I can tell they weren't expecting that answer, their silence speaking for them. Kelly just stands and crosses the room toward me, putting an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into him. I lean into it, pressing my cheek against his chest.

"Well you won't have to worry about that ever again." He says, his chin resting atop my head. Shay rubs my arm soothingly and I smile, closing my eyes.

For the first time in years, I feel like this is a place I could call home.

 **Kelly's P.O.V**

It's been almost a week since bringing Addison back to our place. The first few nights were tough, we kept waking up to screaming and crying coming from her bedroom. Either one of both of us would go into her room and lay with her until she calmed down enough to go back to sleep. More often than not, we would fall asleep along with her.

Today is her first day at her school after everything that's happened. She has recovered almost completely; her limp is hardly noticeable now. Shay and I were unsure of transferring her from the school she'd been at on the east end, just because it would be one more thing for her to adjust to, but we didn't think staying in that neighborhood would be any better.

"Morning kid," I say as she comes down the stairs, hair freshly washed and tied back in a ponytail. I pour myself a cup of coffee, the smell alone helping me wake up a little more.

"Morning." She replies with a small smile, coming around to sneak under the arm I'm using to pour my coffee, pulling me into a one-armed hug. "Where's Shay?" she asks, slipping away and reaching up to one of the cabinets, probably grabbing the cornflakes as she does most mornings.

"Worked the shift last night. She'll be back for dinner tonight while I'm working." I say, going to the fridge to get my coffee creamer. I hand Addison the milk at the same time while I pull out my own carton.

"Thanks." She says with a grin. "I don't mind being here alone you know." She says with a careful sideways glance. "I know you and Shay have it worked out so you guys switch off with each other so I'm not by myself here. And I appreciate it," she makes sure to catch my gaze as she says this. "But I also don't want to make things harder for you. Now that I'm pretty much recovered, and I can get up the stairs alone," she giggles and I crack a smile. "I wanted you to know I'm good alone." She finishes.

I nod, understanding what she means. "Nah, I get it. But it's really not a hassle for us to rotate on and off. Besides, Shay and I like having an excuse to not pull doubles anymore." I joke as Addison retrieves a spoon for her cereal.

"Well, in that case, feel free to use me as your excuse as much as you want." Addie smirks as she takes a spoonful of her cereal.

"How are you feeling? You know, about the new school and all that. If you need some more time—" I start off, but Addison cuts me short.

"Hey," she says. "I'm ready. Don't worry…I'm actually looking forward to being the new kid for once. I get a clean slate now." She tells me, blue eyes sincere while they flicker over my face.

I frown slightly, hoping that I'm not wrong to send her back to school today. I nod, realizing I have to trust her on this.

"If ends up being too much, just say the word." I say and Addison shakes her head, amused smile on her face.

"Kelly." She says, and I chuckle and nudge her shoulder.

"Fine, fine, just eat your cereal." I say and she smiles, raising her spoon of cereal to me before popping it into her mouth.

 **Addison's P.O.V**

It's just about five thirty when I hear the lock turning on the door, and at first I flinch at the sound, but remember what Kelly told me about Leslie coming home around this time.

Sure enough, she walks through the door, gym bag slung over her shoulder. She sees me behind the counter of the kitchen and smiles, throwing her bag to the floor.

"Hey," she says, her eyes travelling to the saucepans I have on the stove. "Something smells good. What you got going there?" she asks, coming around the counter to the fridge, retrieving a beer.

"I lived in this one foster home a couple months back, before the Gregson's. Was actually half decent, but I got transferred due to overcrowding. Before I left though, I picked up a couple recipes from Tamera, our foster mom." I explain. "This is her chicken cacciatore." I say, stirring the sauce and also watching the chicken I have grilling in the skillet.

Leslie takes a swig, standing next to me. "Well," she begins. "Colour me impressed."

"Don't say anything until you've tasted it." I warn her, laughing. "I still have fifteen minutes to screw it up."

Shay just grins and takes another swig, making her way to one of the barstools on the other side of the counter.

"So, how was the big first day? Scope out any cute guys?" she wiggles her eyebrows at me suggestively and I scoff and roll my eyes.

"Please," I say while I flip the chicken over with my tongs. "I could care less about guys right now. All I wanted to do was find my classes and not get lost seven times." I explain with a shake of my head.

"And how did that go?" she asks and I sigh.

"Well, I got to my classes okay in the end. The getting lost part…Well I kept it down to three times instead of seven—so I consider that a small victory in itself." Shay laughs and I can't help but join in.

"Hey, that's something. Could have been a lot worse of a first day." She tells me and I nod.

"Don't I know it. I've had my fair share of those, trust me." I sigh and turn to face her briefly. "Did you see Kelly on your way out?" I ask and she gives nod.

"Yeah, they actually got called to a car accident as I was leaving. Multi-vehicle, sounded like a real mess." She tells me, and I frown, thinking of what Kelly could be walking into. I guess my face says it all because Shay follows up quickly. "Hey, he'll be fine." She says, blue eyes earnest. "Kelly always comes out the other end of it okay."

I just nod, trying to ease the knots I feel twisting in my stomach.

"For now," Shay spins herself around and out of the bar stool, walking towards the TV. "We are going to find some trashy reality show to watch because I need a little bit of that right now."

I crack a smile, turning back to the stove. It's not long before we're sitting on the couch, plates in hand and ready to watch an episode of some show called Big Brother.

"This is amazing," Shay tells me after her first few bites. "Hopefully you saved enough for Kelly because he will be sorely disappointed once I rub it in his face." She smirks and I nod.

"There's enough there for him and some lunch for tomorrow too." I say. "I'm used to cooking for a lot more than two, so I overdid it a little." I admit, blushing slightly. "Normally it's me and four to six other hungry kids who can have at least two servings each. I'll have to dial back the portions."

Shay smiles a little and nudges me with her shoulder. "Well I bet they're all missing your chicken cacciatore right about now." She tries to lighten the mood and I nod, my lips twitching upward.

We finish eating pretty quickly and end up doubled over laughing when one of the contestants on the show fails horribly at their challenge and Shay compares their appearance to a drowned chihuahua.

We clean up, washing the dishes while Shay's blues records play in the background. I settle down to get through some homework around eight thirty, and Shay lets me know she's going to turn in early for her morning shift.

"Don't stay up too late," she squeezes my shoulder and plants a quick kiss on the top of my head as she passes by on her way to the stairs.

"Yes ma'am." I say and she just shoots me a look before disappearing upstairs.

I giggle to myself before turning back to my history notes, feeling perfectly content in this moment.

 **A/N: Sorry for the longer break between chapters, but as promised here is the next installment :) Please keep reviewing and following the story as to not miss out on future updates! Thank you all so much for reading!**

 **Xoxo**


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